To me, this is the quintessential Southern shade tree. It’s a really old Southern live oak tree growing down at the waterfront in Neptune Park on St. Simons Island (GA).
It was from similar trees hundreds of years ago Colonial ancestors harvested wood to build the USS Constitution. The ship was nicknamed Old Ironsides because of the hard resilient oak wood that repelled many a British cannonball.
One of the fascinating things about this tree for me is the fact that it’s not covered in the ever present Spanish moss that seems to inundate most trees in the area.
I like this stately old Southern gent just the way he is…
© 2011 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.
