What is the oldest tree in Athens, Georgia?
The tree Athens is known for is the Son of the Tree That Owns Itself, a white oak of about eighty years standing on the corner of South Finley Street and Dearing Street, downtown. It is not the oldest tree in the city and it is the one worth the walk: it was planted on 4 December 1946, grown from an acorn of the original oak that fell in a windstorm in 1942. That original was, by a story the Athens Weekly Banner published in 1890, deeded ownership of itself and of the ground within eight feet of its trunk by Colonel William H. Jackson. Legal scholars doubt that a tree can hold property. Athens has never let the objection interfere. The plot is public, free and open at every hour, with a historical marker on the corner.
The corner of South Finley Street and Dearing Street sits on the western edge of downtown Athens, a few minutes on foot from the University of Georgia's North Campus and from Broad Street. There is nothing to book and no visitor centre. The plot is a corner of ground with a marker and a set of steps, and the tree on it is a white oak of ordinary size, because it is only eighty years old. The gap between the size of the tree and the size of the story is the visit. The original oak stood here for as long as anyone in Athens could remember and came down in a windstorm in 1942. The Junior Ladies Garden Club had thought ahead: they had an acorn from it, grew the seedling on, and planted it in the same plot on 4 December 1946, with horticulture students from the university doing the digging. Street parking is the usual approach. Nothing here is gated, ticketed or closed at night, which under the terms of the legend is only proper.
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