Adding the Treaty Oak to my life list

Over the course of my career, I've seen many large trees, some of them champions. Finding the giants of a particular species was never really a specific quest or hobby, but I feel myself be drawn in that direction by the iconic tree of the deep south, the live oak (Quercus virginiana).

Visiting the Angel Oak last fall may have set me on this course. My wife and I enjoyed hunting down the little park where it stands and then strolling beneath its massive crown. We stopped by Florida's champion Cellon Oak, on the same trip, and I took it as a personal triumph when my wife took our grandkids to visit the tree after an outing to pick strawberries at a farm nearby.

So as we drove from Fernandina Beach to St. Augustine on a pleasant Saturday morning, I suggested that we make a slight detour to visit the Treaty Oak in Jacksonville. I knew this tree was easy pickings. It sits in a 2.5 acre park near the St. Johns River, south of downtown in the San Marco area. Our iPhone GPS had the location and took us straight there. Being the weekend, we were able to park near the entrance to the park and have the tree all to ourselves.

With a score of 462 points, the Florida Forest Service considers the Treaty Oak a "Challenger" to the Cellon Oak's 517. It's most impressive feature is the crown spread, just six feet less than the Cellon Oak and with massive branches that dip to the ground in all directions. Walking into the gap in the canopy on the park's boardwalk feels like entering a leafy cathedral.

According to the Wikipedia article, there is no actual treaty associated with the tree. As part of the effort to save the tree in the 1930's, journalist Pat Moran is said to have created the story of native Floridians and settlers signing an accord there. Fortunately, the land was purchased by the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust and finally donated to the City of Jacksonville by Jessie Ball duPont in 1964.

Having visited and photographed three of the six largest (recorded) live oaks in Florida, I feel drawn to find the others. Located in Lake, Madison, and Marion counties, all are within a two hour drive. I've got plenty else to do, but every visit to those grand old trees has seemed like time well spent.