The "Big Tree", near the town of

Rockport, Texas Rockport is a city in Aransas County, Texas, United States. The population was 8,766 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat. Rockport is adjacent to the town of Fulton, and many refer to the combined communities as "Rockport-Fulton"; howeve ...

, is one of the most famous

live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are not more closely related to each other than they are to other oaks. ...

s in the world after being named "Texas State Champion Virginia Live Oak" (''

Quercus virginiana ''Quercus virginiana'', also known as the southern live oak, is an evergreen oak tree endemic to the Southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South. ...

'') in 1969. The tree retained that title until 2003, when a larger oak was discovered in

Brazoria County, Texas Brazoria County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 372,031. The county seat is Angleton. Brazoria County is included in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan statis ...

. The "Big Tree" is still thought to be one of the largest live oak specimens in the United States. Despite the widespread, historically significant devastation of the surrounding region, the "Big Tree" was relatively unscathed by

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

, a category 4

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

that hit Rockport on August 25, 2017.

History

The "Big Tree" is near the town of Lamar in

Goose Island State Park Goose Island State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Texas, located north of the city of Rockport on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The park covers . It is surrounded by both St. Charles and Aransas Bays. The park was established on ...

. During the Civil War, Lamar was bombarded and destroyed by the Union Navy. All that remained were the ruins of a few old shellcrete (oyster shell concrete) homes, a Catholic chapel, and the "Big Tree". Before the 1931 opening of the Copano Causeway, visitors coming from south of

Copano Bay Copano Bay is a northwestern extension of Aransas Bay, west of Rockport, Texas in Refugio and Aransas counties. It is supplied with seawater from the Gulf of Mexico via Aransas Bay, and fed freshwater from the Aransas River, Mission River and C ...

, such as from Corpus Christi, had to drive many miles inland to get around the bay to reach the "Big Tree". Visiting the "Big Tree" today is easy with available roadside parking. The base of the tree is cordoned off to dissuade climbers, but visitors are nonetheless able to stand below the crown to appreciate the tree's massive size. According to climatologists, the "Big Tree" has survived from anywhere between forty and fifty major hurricanes, including the most recent, Harvey, as well as numerous floods, droughts and wildfires.

''Quercus virginiana''

The "Big Tree" is a species of oak called ''Quercus virginiana''. These oak trees can be found from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

with their range extending northward to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. The common name for the Quercus virginiana is the live oak but includes the names southern live oak and the Texas live oak too. Live oak growth rate and size vary by location. The largest examples tend to grow further inland, while live oaks in coastal regions are usually smaller. Therefore, the size of the "Big Tree" makes it a rare specimen for a coastal location.

Specifications

The

Texas Forest Service Texas A&M Forest Service (TFS) is an agency chartered by the Texas Legislature to manage the interests of Texas' forests. The Legislature created the service in 1915. It is a part of the Texas A&M University System and is headquartered in Colle ...

estimates the tree to be over 1,000 years old, while other recent estimates place it nearer to 2,000 years old. Also known as ''Bishop Oak'' and ''Lamar Oak'', the "Big Tree" is a charter member (#16) of the

Live Oak Society The Live Oak Society is a membership organization for mature live oak trees. It was founded in 1934 to advance the culture, distribution, preservation, and appreciation of the southern live oak (''Quercus virginiana'') and functions under the aus ...

The Live Oak Society
Retrieved 2013-07-16 and has been the subject of one of Ripley's "Believe It or Not" cartoons. The "Big Tree" is possibly the oldest extant live oak in the world. It possesses a circumference of over 35 feet and is more than 45 feet tall, while the crown's spread is 90 feet. "Record" or "champion" trees are determined by a cumulative measure of their girth, their spread, and their height, however, the near-continuous

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...

breeze limits the height of the "Big Tree"; therefore, there exist many other live oak specimens that are actually taller, but once girth is factored in, that measure makes the "Big Tree" the second-largest live oak in Texas.

History

''Quercus virginiana''

Specifications

See also

References

External links