Huge oak goes down

[JasonInAugusta]

Saturday we had our usual "scattered thundershower".

My neighbor and I watched it build as it closed in on our neighborhood but it didn't turn into a full-on storm until after it had passed us.

As we watched the lightning we commented on how "those guys" were getting the brunt of the storm.

On the way to the lake yesterday my wife and I passed by some of the damage.

This is the largest oak I've ever seen come down...especially like this - uprooted.

On the way back we stopped by and asked the homeowners (who were outside) if we could snap a few shots. While I took pictures the guy who owned the place started telling me the history of the big oak.

The tree is (was) over 200 years old. The land we were standing on used to be "the old Bennett farm". The Confederate Army would routinely pass through here and tie their horses off to the big oak. Horseshoes were nailed to the tree and were used to tie the horses to the tree.

In the early 1900's a fire came through the area and badly burned the tree. In an effort to save it the scorched trunk was coated with concrete. The tree eventually grew around and over the concrete.

The guy got tears in his eyes as he started telling me about all the good times he had as a kid in the tree and the times he'd spent with his own kids in the big oak. Said he always wanted to climb to the top of it.

The guy's son said that a swath was cut through the woods behind their house for about 1/4 mile. Seems that a tornado came through but it wasn't reported on the news...not even after the fact.



Here's a few shots.

[bigmike07]

wow, thats one big a$$ tree!

[clodstall]

yep thats a big one.glad everyone is ok.

[braceysdad]

At least it fell away from the house...

[BGGruff]

Damn that's wild for a "Thinderstorm". The only time I've ever seen anything like that was after a Hurricane. I'm from Ocean Springs, MS right where Katrina plowed thru and you can imagine the aftermath...many of these Big Oaks some as old as 500 years just up rooted like they were weeds! The craziest stuff I've ever seen...I never want to ride thru another storm like that again. Oh did I mention I lived six blocks from the beach at 16 ft above sea level and the water came all they way up to the door step.

[_BEN_]

That's a bummer. Big trees like that will soon be an endangered species.

Contact a local mill. They may be interested in the wood. If they can work around the concrete. It would be a shame to see it all go as fire wood.

[Usmc8541]

Maybe they could re-root it with a crane.

[Grizzly4x4]

I've got several big trees around my house, none that big but still, I hope they don't come down on the house.

[Kranberry]

oh snap

[twisted]

wow big tree and very cool history behind it.

it could of been a micro burst that took it down. we had one come back a few years back and it took trees down in a good 20 mile line headed east.

[slobin3d]

we had a storm like that blow through Lee's Summit MO a few years back when I used to live there, they thought a tornado went through and everybody was up in arms because it tore through a new subdivision and ruined a bunch of homes. turned out to be a extremely strong micro-burst and they can't predict those with standard radar.

[ColquittCustom405]

Amazing photos Jason.Sad what happened. My great great grandma in Georgia planted a tree for every child that was born...and so on...and so on..Well right now there are 24 trees planted on their land (used to be land).It's pretty cool whenever I go back to check out how big they're getting.

[Mnster]

Well at least he can climb to the top now.