More Amazing Angel Oak Tree Info and Photos 10-08-2022

The folks at Land Trust got me interested in Save The Oak, and I support them and their activities. Angel Oak is a Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana)located in Angel Oak Park on Johns Island near Charleston, South Carolina.

In 2008, Samantha Siegel took a stand and started a movement to save the Angel Oak and its surrounding land from impending development. Along the way, she garnered support from many notable conservation organizations, including the Coastal Conservation League and the South Carolina Environmental Law Project. Thanks to those efforts, we’re now working with the community to turn that land into the Angel Oak Preserve—a publicly accessible park with walking trails and historical, cultural, and environmental information. As we begin the early stages of the planning process, it was only right to bring Samantha back as Project Manager to finish the work she started.

We caught up with Samantha in the midst of her organizing efforts to revisit the history of this movement and discuss what the Angel Oak Effect means to her.

Q: It’s hard to imagine that as recently as 12 years ago, the Angel Oak was at risk of being surrounded by a massive development. What inspired you to take on the task of fighting for this iconic tree? 

A: I had come to spend an hour of almost every day of my life at the Angel Oak. At that time, there weren’t many other people at the tree daily. So, it became my happy place. I sat there and studied, read, and just thought about things. The tree became my best friend, and when you think about it, that isn’t so strange. The mammoth oak demanded nothing and gave me everything I needed.

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6 Best Things to Do on Johns Island, SC

John’s Island, SC, is the fourth-largest island on the east coast of the USA. It is separated from the mainland and neighboring islands by the Stono and Kiawah rivers. The 84 square mile island is home to a host of different wildlife species on land, in the water and in the air. Johns Island has a thriving tourism industry, which operates in a relaxed and collaborative atmosphere. Being so close to the sea and rivers, seafood is plentiful and is reflected in the menus of most restaurants. Several of its buildings predate the birth of the nation, and many of its trees are older still.

Reportedly the oldest thing

“Reportedly the oldest thing — living or artificial — east of the Rockies, Angel Oak is a live oak tree aged approximately 1,500 years. Some locals simply call it The Tree. It stands in a wooded area along Bohicket Road off John’s Island outside Charleston, South Carolina. You won’t find a lot of stuff like tee shirt shacks around there, because basically the attraction is a single tree standing in a park. So keep an eye out for signs and drive slowly.- Duane Spurlock
Angel Oak is a live oak. It is native to the low country and is not very tall but has a widespread canopy. Lumber from the live oak forests in the sea islands was highly valued for shipbuilding in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Angel Oak stands on part of Abraham Waight’s 1717 land grant. Mr. Waight owned several plantations. The City of Charleston now owns Angel Oak. There is no charge to view the tree and is a must-see when visiting Charleston, South Carolina

For tourists who haven’t visited Angel Oak

For tourists who haven’t visited Angel Oak, you should know that it is this state’s most imposing work of nature, more impressive even than a plate of shrimp and grits. The Tree (one instinctively capitalizes the word when talking about this colossal vegetable) stands in an obscure wooded area of John’s Island, some 12 miles beyond the Ashley River. The Tree is huge, and it is ancient. Estimates of its age run as high as 1,500 years.

Awesome

Towering over 65 feet high, the Angel Oak has shaded John’s Island, South Carolina, for over 1400 years, and would have sprouted 1000 years before Columbus’ arrival in the New World. Recorded history traces the ownership of the live oak and surrounding land, back to the year 1717 when Abraham Waight received it as part of a small land grant. The tree stayed in the Waight family for four generations, and was part of a Marriage Settlement to Justus Angel and Martha Waight Tucker Angel. In modern times, the Angel Oak has become the focal point of a public park. Today the live oak has a diameter of spread reaching 160 feet, a circumference of nearly 25 feet, and covers 17,100 square feet of ground. www.historictrees.org

The Angel Oak is thought to be one of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River. Acorns from the Angel Oak have grown to produce authentic direct-offspring trees.. Live oaks generally grow out and not up, but the Angel Oak has had plenty of time to do both, standing 65 ft high and with a canopy providing 17,000 square feet of shade. Its limbs, the size of tree trunks themselves, are so large and heavy that some of them rest on the ground (some even drop underground for a few feet and then come back up), a feature common to only the very oldest live oaks. It has survived countless hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and human interference, so there’s a good chance it will still be there waiting for you.

Angel Oak was damaged severely during Hurricane Hugo but has since recovered and grows on John’s Island near Charleston, South Carolina.”
angel oak tree history

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https://www.louisdallaraphotography.com/2011/07/06/angel-oak-revisited-in-ir/

https://www.louisdallaraphotography.com/2017/04/19/mystical-angel-oak-tree/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Oak

https://www.louisdallaraphotography.com/2008/06/10/angel-oak-tree-2/

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