On the road - Greenville

Tree Root System, Greenville, SC

I  was looking forward to visiting this amazing tree root system on the path just up the hill from Reedy Park in Greenville. It is a wonderful sight. I could have stayed there all day offering to take pictures of happy visitors posing in front of it. 

The little tree that could

Windermere Blvd, James Island, SC  

I always check in with this fiesty little tree when I walk the greenway through to South Windermere. Growing out of a crack in a post my little tree that could is healthy and thriving. I shared the photo on facebook and was reminded that the West Of Newspaper featured it in an article by Bill Davis a couple of years ago. I am not the only one who appreciates it.

West Ashley’s (un)official TreeBahrain’s Tree of Life may be the original site of the Garden of Eden. And, sure, the Avenue of Baobabs of Madagascar is certainly impressive.Johns Island may have the Angel Oak. Athens, Ga., may have the “Tree That Owns Itself.” The General Sherman sequoia and drive-through redwoods can call California home.But all of these famous trees may soon bow in respect to a tree that calls West Ashley home.

The majestic and hardy … Pole-Tree!

Pronounced “poultry,” or “pole-tree,” or maybe both, it takes its name from its environmental niche, a circular perch atop a sawn-off telephone pole.

Just the facts, ma'am

Heriot St., Charleston, SC 

For all the backroad sights I look for, I happened on a Roadside America listing right here our own backyard. This one is mentioned on Roadside America and I tracked it down this morning. 

An old cypress tree stood at Grayson S. Carter's lumber business in the 1930s on this land. The "tree" is now a branchless center trunk on a concrete slab, with an embedded wisdom plaque. 

Now this, is a tree!

McLeod Oak, Charleston, SC 

I have a new favorite tree (as I often do)! This one is the McLeod Plantation Oak tree and is estimated to be 600 years old.

Foggy Mornings

Live oaks in the fog, Charleston, S,C.

It was beautiful but frighteningly foggy on my way to work this morning. I passed what looked like a serious accident and was happy to arrive safely myself. This was that I walked through from my car to my office. I don't have much to complain about do I?

Restaurant week jackpot at Al Di La this evening with a couple friends from work. I have some tasty leftovers tucked away in my frig for tomorrow. Now, I am going to settle down for a cheery (not!) little PBS Frontline documentary on North Korea that I recorded last night.

See the tree, dear?

Deer Head Oak, McClellanville, S.C.

See the deer? Nope. Neither do I. It is a magnificent oak tree but it is called Deer Head Oak Tree and although I squinted, stared and circled the tree, I can't see it.

The Deerhead Oak is both larger in circumference, 30.6 feet, and height, 67 feet, than the famed Angel Oak on Johns Island, SC estimated by some to be more than 1,500 years old and thought to be the oldest living thing east of the Mississippi River. Of course, it is hard to estimate the age of these ancient trees, which predate the discovery of America by the Europeans, because boring samples are not reliable due to a tendency for the live oaks heart wood to rot.
It takes some creativity to see the deer head, with its knobby eyes and nose and long antler branches, but no matter if you can't. The value in the tree comes not from its likeness to an animal, but from its beauty and history.

A giant oak stands in the town,
Its known as the Deer Head Tree.
Surely the oldest living thing
Within our community.
For centuries rooted in place,
Watching the seasons pass.
No telling just how old it is,
Or how long yet it may last.
I sometimes wonder if this old tree
Had senses and wit ad tongue,
What stories it might tell us,
Of events since it was young.
~By James O. McClellan

They are correct. If it is 1,500 years old it may have looked like a deer, five hundred years ago. It is a grand dear tree. 

New favorite tree

A tree grows West Ashley, South Windermere, Charleston

This may be my new favorite tree. Wow. The trunk is quite thick and sturdy so it hasn't just popped up. This is quite amazing.

I found it in behind South Windermere when I walked down the greenway to try out the newly opened YoBo Cantina Fresca. You know my theory, if you walk to and from dinner there are no calories to consider. Yummy dinner by the way.