The Majestic Oak

The Candler Oak downtown is about 5.2 metres round. The oak in the middle of a quiet cul-de-sac in the Isle of Hope area is 8.4, and its branches reach more than 165 feet from tip to tip, roughly fifty metres. Those numbers come from the plaque beside it: 27 feet 8 inches round at the base. The setting does the rest. The tree stands alone in the centre of Majestic Oaks Circle, with the houses arranged around it facing in, the way buildings face a statue in a square. One house across the street describes itself simply as across from the Majestic Oak. How old it is, nobody knows exactly. The plaque says more than 300 years. A travel writer who went to see it puts it at 300 to 400. Both are estimates, and that range is as tight as the evidence allows. You may also hear that it was already full grown when Oglethorpe founded Savannah in 1733, or that it watched the city's Grand Prize car races go past in 1910 and 1911. Those stories circulate widely and no reliable source stands behind either one, so treat them as local lore. The same goes for the tale linking it to the old Wormsloe plantation, several kilometres away. It is free and visible from the street at any hour. Park considerately: people live around it.