Charleston: Angel Oak

When we were planning our recent trip to Charleston (my first!) I found a few things that I wanted to see outside of the walkable historic district so we rented a car for a day. One of the must-sees on our list was the Angel Oak, a 500-year old Southern live oak located on John's Island. The tree is featured so prominently on Charleston marketing materials and brochures that we were surprised to find that it was on the outskirts of town, about a 30 min drive from downtown.

The oak, now owned by the city of Charleston, is 66.5 feet tall, 28 feet in circumference, and produces shade that covers 17,200 square feet. I knew the tree was huge, but I was still surprised by its size and spread. Some of its branches could be huge trees themselves—they twist and wind up and down, duck under the ground and come back up again.

Some of the branches have been held up by posts or cables, and it's miraculous that a tree of this size has survived and continues to grow. The area around the tree was threatened with development in 2012 but it was successfully stopped due to concerns that the tree's groundwater and nutrient supply would be in danger. Although the Angel Oak isn't the oldest tree in the South, it's still spectacular and it reassures you in a way that only nature can of not only the fragility of life, but also of its enduring strength.