The Tamosaiciai Cemetery Oak
Seasons1 of 4
The thickest oak in Tamosaiciai is not the Tamosaiciai oak. The name belongs to a tree in the old village cemetery, 4.3 metres round and 23 metres tall, which both records of it describe as in complete health, and which both call the real one. The bigger tree stands out in a field a short walk away and measures 5.8 metres or 6.15 depending on which survey you take. It is also in trouble: storm damage, a large hollow, no information sign, and no place in the register of protected objects. Size is not the whole argument, and in Tamosaiciai the village and the register have both come down on the side of the healthy tree. So the cemetery oak carries the name. It grows among the graves on the right bank of the Kernusupis stream, about a kilometre southeast of the Balskai dam, inside Pagramantis Regional Park. Burial ground tends to be left alone for centuries at a time, which is why so many of the oldest trees in this part of Europe are standing in it. Nobody has dated this one. There is no ring count and no planting record, and the two sources that measured it agree on the girth and the height to the centimetre while saying nothing at all about its age. If you know of a figure with a source behind it, tell us.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Old cemetery grounds, Tamosaiciai village, Mazonu seniunija, Taurages district municipality, right bank of the Kernusupis stream, inside Pagramantis Regional Park
You can recognise it by its position among the graves in the old cemetery, 4.3 metres round and 23 metres tall in full health. The thicker oak nearby stands out in a field, hollow and storm damaged, with no sign on it.
Old village cemetery grounds, open; no gate, fee or restriction mentioned by either source. A second, thicker 'field oak' stands nearby but is in poor health (storm damage, large hollow) and, per lt.wikipedia, carries no information sign and is not in the official register; it is recorded here as a lead, not part of this entry.
No public transit; inside Pagramantis Regional Park, about 1km southeast of the Balskai dam.
In fruit
September to October: acorns drop, and a good mast year buries the ground in them
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.
