Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-08-15
CIVILIANS LIVE OAK. "
Declared BY Tree Specialists to Be an
Amazinu Specimen.

| Declared BY Tree Specialists 10 De af'
Amazing Specimen.
In my recent articles 1 told of two
national shrines in Beaufort county
which are. in some respects, the most
remarkable of all our American
shrines-namely, the 1862 Charles
Fort marking the first Hugucnot
landing, which took place on Paris
Island, and the old Sheldon Parish
church, with n history Of at least 400
years, writes N. l.. Willet in the Char
| lesion News and Courier. These two
old shrines today are in ruins, but
nearby and 4 contemporary perhaps OF
Charles Fort and possibly 200 years
older, is a living and seemingly immor-
tai live oak tree which is equally
! worthy to be named n national shrine.
Experts pronounce this tree, known as
the williams Live Oak" on Bray's
island near Sheldon, as being one Of
tho most remarkable trees in all this
country. Davey, the tree man, visited
| this tree and laid that it amazed him.
Winthrop Packard, the naturalist, said
of it: Il have never seen tree so
dignified and so beautiful"
Rich In Shrines.
Beaufort county is not only rich in
her history, her soils, her climate, her
crops, her wild animal life, but is es-
pecially rich in being the possessor of
three most notable shrines-Charles
Fort, Sheldon church and live oak
tree. The Williams live oak Is, of
course, an evergreen tree. 1t is heav-
lily clothed or draped with gray Span
ish moss. 1t occupies beautiful spot
on the bank of the Pocataligo river and
is on one of the richest of the sixty
four islands that make up Beaufort
county. There are three or four fam
Gus live oak trees in the county that
have been visited and public attention
called to them by our national tree
men, but the finest and most remarka-
BILE of this group is this amazing one
on the L. j. Williams place.
The Williams Live Oak.
The tree carries about thirty long
limbs. The spread of these limbs from
tip to tip shows diameter of 1873 feet
which is practically the distance be-
tween a store front on the north side
and store front on the south side of
Broad street, Augusta. The tree itself
one foot above the ground is fifty-fiv
feet in circumference and something
like eighteen in diameter. Four feet
and seven inches In circumference
above the ground it is twentythree
feet in circumference and something
while at six feet above the ground ii
is thirty-siX feet and four inches ir
circumference which means that al
this height the tree is twelve feet in
diameter. Between this one foot and
this siX-feet height the tree narrows
to about eight feet in diameter. Live
oaks are often said to have waists like
women--that is, narrow. The tree al
ten feet puts out four immense
branches Of about fifteen feet in cir
cumfcrence or five feet in diameter
Unusual Root System.
The root system is as amazing a.
the tree itself. To look at it you would
think that it's whole root system was
above ground. These immense root!
of three to four feet in diameter col
in and fold among themselves as i
they were so many snakes. The roo
system spreads out under the tree g.
feet in circumference. Expert tree mel
have declared that possibly not il
the whole of America could be fount
9ny such amazing root system as OBJ
tains in this Williams oak. Is ther'
another tree in all of this big land
; 400 years old, eighteen feet in diane
ter, with an amazing root system prac
tically all visible and carrying limb
which in themselves are more than fiv
: feet in diameter? Is there another tre
= comparable to this tree in the Unitet
! States? And, we must remember tina
other shrine trees are not evergreen
they are not draped with Spanisl
r moss nor do they stand on the bank
? Of = noble river What would no
;, other states where history and beaut
are more rcvered give for these thre
r old Beaufort shrines?