THE ANGEL OAK: A TREE OLDER THAN CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

At a staggering 65 feet tall, the Angel Oak has shaded John’s Island, South Carolina, for more than 1,400 years. That means it sprouted 1,000 years before Christopher Columbus’ arrival. Historic records trace the colonial ownership of the live oak and surrounding land back to 1717, when Abraham Waight received it as part of a small land grant. The tree remained in the ownership of the Waight family for four generations and was part of a marriage settlement for Justus Angel and Martha Waight Tucker Angel.

Today the Angel Oak has become the focal point of a public park, boasting a crown that is 160 feet in diameter, a trunk of 25-feet in circumference, and an overall spread of 17,100 square feet. The Angel Oak is thought to be one of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River.