Tooty's post about the Burr Oak got me to take some pictures of mine. It is now about 235 years old as I had someone figure out the age of it for me. He measured the height using measurements from the trunk out to the edge of it's leaf range and the size of it's trunk. Here is a shot of the trunk from about 30 ft away. About 15 years ago, during a storm the top of the tree got hit by lightning and it traveled down the trunk and blew the bark of the side of it. This is where the bark got blown off. When I was about 10 or 11 years old, my Dad and I was walking under the tree and I picked up a tine from an old spring hay rake and set it in the crook of the tree, where it was hollowed out. That was 57 years ago. This all you can see of the tine. This is how much the tree has grown since then. I measured the trunk at the base and it was 21 foot around the tree.
That is one magnificent tree! Twenty-one feet around the trunk--that must qualify for some sort of listing as a "huge Burr Oak". Thank you for sharing it with us.
I love the huge Oak trees. All this talk of large trees got me searching for information on largest trees in Texas and I found that there is a Texas Big Tree Registry and many of the trees listed are National Champions. Capt. check to see if there is a similar registry in Ohio and see about submitting your tree.
That's some old giant tree. It's amazing how a tree can grow around things left attached to them. This is a horseshoe custom made into a "W" inside a large horseshoe. It was attached to the oak tree in the 1930s. The tree is nowhere near what yours is but I guess that it is nearing 100 years. ( photo / image / picture from Calomaar's Garden )
Several years ago, Country Magazine had a big tree contest. I entered mine and it didn't even come close to any of the winners.I just did some calculations and when this tree was a mere yougster, the American Revolution was going on, (1776). There were no whites living in Ohio then. So this area was all American Indian inhabitants.
Keep an eye on those other trees, yours is still growing and some of the others may have died since then. This is the link to the Ohio records.... http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/tabid/4806/default.aspx
I just remembered, the big beautiful tree in the field in the movie Shawshank Redemption was taken out in a storm a couple of months ago. The movie was filed here in Ohio at the old Mansfield Correctional Institute. The tree was located somewhere near Mansfield. The wind split it in half and part of it still stands.It is an oak tree also.
Frank, the base of the tree is hollow. The other part of the tine hangs down in it about 3 ft. Every time we get a bad storm with strong winds, I worry about one of sides blowing down.
Two Oak Trees with a great history,..it really impacts when you think that tree when in its infancy had only Native Americans in the state of Ohio,..interesting information about the tree in the Shawshank Redemption,..its a film i have looked at many times and enjoyed each time,..i didn't know it was filmed in Ohio,..next time i will see it in a different light.
