Why Oh Wye Oak
This weekend we went to the Eastern Shore and saw, quite by accident, The Wye Oak (deceased). Of course we stopped to have a look, and it was a remarkable thing. We have recently purchased a property with several huge old white oaks I adore, but they are just saplings in comparison to this – it was 31 feet around.
The Wye Oak sprouted in about 1450-1500AD and it apparently grew happily for the next 500+ years – through all of these interesting events (just to put it in perspective):
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End of 100 Years War; English expelled from all France except Calais (1453)
Leonardo DaVinci designed the first parachute.(1485)
Columbus discovers West Indies (1492)
Pocket watch invented by Peter Henlein. (1510)
Suleiman the Magnificent invades Hungary (1532)
Turk armies invade Malta, lose battle (1551)
Birth of Shakespeare (1564, approx)
Reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603)
Zacharias Janssen invents the compound microscope.(1590)
English fleet defeats Spanish Armada off south coast of England (1588)
English seaman Francis Drake sails round the world (1577-1580)
Galileo Galilei confirms that the sun is the centre of the solar system (1609)
30 Years War involves almost all Europe except Britain (1618-1648)
Candian War between Venice and Ottoman Turks (1645-1669)
In London, England, William Harvey discovers the circulation of the blood (1619-1628)
Reign of Peter the Great of Russia (1682-1725)
New York was established by the Dutch (1626)
The East India Company sets up factories at Madras (1641)
Evangelista Torricelli invents the barometer.(1643)
Great Fire of London (1666)
Bartolomeo Cristofori invents the piano.(1709)
New Orleans was founded (1718)
Seven Years War; Prussia and Britain versus France, Austria, and Russia (1756-1763)
The Industrial Revolution (1760-1830)
Reign of Russian empress Catherine the Great (1762 – 1796)
Stamp Act imposed on British colonies in Americas(1765)
John Barber invents the gas turbine.(1791)
The first ambulance.(1792)
Italian scientist Volta invents electric cell (1800)
Thomas Jefferson becomes third US president(1801)
British-American War (1812)
The first plastic surgery is performed in England (1814)
Death of Thomas Jefferson (1826)
Uruguay becomes independent (1828)
Waldo Hanchett patents the dental chair (1848)
Walter Hunt invents the safety pin (1849)
Jeans invented in California, United States (1850)
Isaac Singer invents a sewing machine.(1851)
First double-decker bus (1851)
Formation of Republican Party in US (1854)
American Civil War begins (1861)
Lincoln assassinated (1865)
Graham Bell invents the telephone (1876)
US inventor Thomas Edison invents the record-player (1877)
Opening of Brooklyn Bridge (1872)
Modern Olympics held in Athens (1896)
Nobel Prizes established (1896)
Boxer Rebellion in China (1900)
Willis Carrier invents the air conditioner.(1902)
Revolution in Russia (1905)
Henry Ford produces first Model T car (1908)
Robert Peary Becomes the First to Reach the North Pole (1909)
More than 1500 die in sinking of Titanic (1912)
Assassination of heir to Austrian throne leads to outbreak of World War I (1914)
Russian Revolution (1917)
Armistice ends World War I (1918)
Ernest Rutherford splits atom for first time (1919)
World’s first radio station opens in Britain (1920)
Discovery of Planet Pluto (1930)
Nazi leader Hitler appointed German chancellor (1933)
France surrenders to Germany (1940)
Allies invade France and begin to reconquer Europe (1944)
World War II ends (1945)
DNA discovered (1953)
Mt Everest conquered for the first time by Tenzing and Hillary (May 29, 1953)
Russian Yuri Gagarin becomes first human in space (1961)
John F. Kennedy is assassinated (1963)
US astronauts land on the Moon (1969)
U.S. invades Cambodia (1970)
Viking 1 & 2 land on Mars (1976)
Invention of Personal computer (1978)
Berlin Wall dismantled (1989)
Internet expands with World Wide Web (1993)
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In 1939, the State of Maryland purchased the Wye Oak from its last private owner, “in accordance with our desire to preserve places of historical and outstanding interest,” according to the Governor at the time (O’Connor).
Soon after this purchase the Legislature declared the Wye Oak to be the living symbol of the Maryland State Tree, the white oak.
The tree was sprayed for pests. Cables were installed. A park was made around the tree.
Several full time bureaucrats were assigned to assure its continued health and wellbeing.
In 2002 the tree died.
State and federal foresters were called to stand around looking at the remains while wearing hardhats.
The Governor at the time (Glendening) made the following statement: ”I was deeply saddened tonight to learn of the loss of one of our state’s most historic, beautiful and stately natural resources. For more than 450 years, the Wye Oak has stood strong and tall, surviving winds, drought and diseases of nature, and even more remarkably, the human threats of chain saws and global warming.”
It looks warm out, and is that a chain saw I see?
The remains of the Wye Oak were chopped up to make a desk for the Governor (Ehrlich).
The park remains and a clone has been created from a cutting from the original tree. Or so the sign says.
I am sure that the current Governor (O’Malley) will keep it safe from sleet and hail, chainsaws, global warming, pirates, grizzly bears and Japanese tourist groups. Bureaucrats and state foresters with cables and bug spray maybe not. Time will tell. I am sure he is enjoying the desk in the meantime.
500+ years of independent living – without an army of bureaucrats providing for its needs – and this tree was fine.
60+ years of intense management by highly trained bureaucrats and state foresters and it died.
There is a lesson in there somewhere!
This is stunning, hc123. What an incredible story. As for a teachable moment, it could be that a pampered tree is a pansy tree. Or perhaps the tree just wanted to be left to its own devices. Of course, overuse of pesticides (was every square centimeter of the tree coated with the stuff?) might have caused the tree to become lazy in protecting itself. Finally, the old geezer might have just been plain tired (something I can certainly understand).
Thanks Ferd – apparently white oaks can live to be 1000, or so “they say”.
I’m not familiar with White Oaks but they certainly are beautiful trees. The oaks I have grown in the past are pin oaks and red oaks. I planted a 7 foot pin oak in 1998 at a house in which I used to live and went by there in 2006–it was over 50 feet tall. Oaks are certainly majestic trees. I’d love to plant some here but I have to remove some old silver maples first (the rattiest of trees, I might add).
I have a forest of beautiful, probably 70 foot, 10 foot diameter white oaks at my new place. It was one of its features when I bought it, there are probably 8 or 10 monster trees.
Unfortunately while the place was abandoned these ugly ratty poplars started growing in between the oaks (which have a HUGE canopy and need lots of space). I would vote for poplar as the rattiest of trees. What is up with the non leaf leaves? And the bendy crazy shape? Ick.
Grass grows really well under the oaks but under the poplars not so much. The poplars are shorter as well, and allow the vines like poison ivy to jump off of them and onto the oaks.
Now the state of Maryland is busting my chops about removing the poplars and poison ivy (yes, really, they want me to keep the poison ivy), so we have to literally sneak out in the night with a hand saw and remove the trees and vines, then dispose of the bodies like in some horrible mafia movie. “You take the root ball! I will take the crown! Run for the truck! Watch the vines if you are allergic!”
Ridiculous!
I did learn one thing in doing this. I am not particularly sensitive to poison ivy, but my husband just has to look at it and he needs cortisone injections.
Poplars!
We had about 6 abutting our property in West Richland, WA. One afternoon they all fell down during a brief windstorm, smashing our back fence. Fortunately they didn’t fall on the house. They and those ugly silver maples are weeds and should be banned from use in residential areas as they are wont to disintegrate at the drop of a hat. I find Maple branches every day on the front lawn as the largest of them is apparently falling apart. We had an 80-footer that we had removed in 2008 that had a 15 foot high cavity about 7 feet off the ground. The tree was essentially hollow at its heaviest point. When one of the men cut into the hollow part, a jet of water shot out and covered the side of our house with muddy water. We were lucky we cut it down when we did. The squirrels, though, were barking and flicking their tails in anger as we took it down because they apparently had been using it as a private swimming hole.
LOL, great story with a lesson in there for us all! Where I live that situation plays itself out over and over again. There is nothing worse than a bunch of bureaucrats deciding they’re going to “help” something, preserve it, save it. It’s practically a death sentence.
At the moment the city is working on saving deer. They banned hunting, created deer access trails, etc, etc. Well now we have so many deer, even vegitarians are starting to view them as food. They attack tourists, eat gardens, cause car accidents, and hurt children. Seriously, these are some pissed off deer, probably due to their over crowding and excessive contact with humans. Before all this intervention, people loved the deer. Deer were in no danger, except from the occaisional hunter that kept their numbers down. Now the community is starting to hate them because there are simply too many.
OMG I hear you.
Hosta plants last about 4 seconds here because (for similar reasons) we are INFESTED with deer. There are no predators for them, libs apparently love them and dont permit shooting and eating them, and so the population has exploded to the point that a mature buck ran into the Ralph Lauren store in Georgetown and busted the place up.
I cannot imagine why anyone would create a “deer access trail” lol. I guess job security for deer hugging bureaucrats. Its nuts.
Here they are talking about “Does Contraception”. I am not making that up. Bureaucrats are going to send an army of Sandra Flukes into the parks with condoms or something. I am not really against it as an idea, but as a government program I smell disaster.
People here have begun to take up bow hunting to be rid of the deer. Seems better, and more humane, to just shoot them. But apparently the blam blam brings out enraged treehuggers who just hate all guns and meat eating.
These sorts of crazy initiatives often have unintended consequences. Now we have bow hunting in the city instead of shooting. Yippee.
Now we have bow hunting in the city instead of shooting.
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I can see the future Darwin Award recipients shooting themselves in the foot, using the bow backwards, etc. Bows are just as deadly as a rifle and in the wrong hands, incredibly dangerous as they make only a barely audible sound. I much prefer a 30-30 Winchester, but then I’m an Okie. In Tennessee we have the same problem with deer, particularly at the Oak Ridge National Lab. They do allow hunters, though, to hunt every year to thin them out. It is better for them and better for other wildlife as deer can literally eat everything in sight if left to their own devices. Further, they are not afraid of humans at ORNL and have caused a lot of wrecks.
I own a crossbow which is a very stealth weapon. It really matters if you are in the “back country” and firing a rifle gives your position away. I keep some M80′s around to add “bang” to them if I need it. You can “adjust the fuse” on them to trigger on impact. I would never use a bang stick on Bambi.
Deer meat with all that adrenilin makes the meat “sour”.
Sometimes I *want* to give my position away so someone else knows I’m there. I like a good bow, Teak, but they can be dangerous in the wrong hands.
I normally carry both a rifle and a crossbow… you can fish with a crossbow, you can fire rope…
Once I used a bang stick to draw fire at night…shooting a bolt at a tree 50 yards away. After the fire cracker went off, an AK47, a shot gun and a large caliber hand gun opened up in the direction of where the the arrow was. It gave me confirmation that my 22 rifle was not a match and allowed me to pick a safe egress away from the shooting gallery in the opposite direction.
Sad to say, but when hiking on federal land in northern California the odds of “stumbling” onto an illegal pot farm run by well armed “individuals” are very high. I have learned to move with stealth on the trail since that swell time back in the early 80′s.
I can understand that. In Oklahoma, it was the same but not so much in Tennessee, where meth labs and stills are the money makers and one has to be wary of. I always carry a large-caliber hand gun with me when out in the woods. At one time I had a Virginia Dragoon .44 Magnum (stolen, unfortunately). For now I carry a .45 ACP and Kat carries a S&W .357. I’m looking for a .44 Bisley Ruger–I love six-shooters.
Wild west.
Funny that you say that – we just had a young buck come through to feed. They usually aren’t here until late afternoon, but occasionally, one of the young ones wander through. Oh, but here in South Cackalacki, there is most definitely a hunting season for deer…
What a fantastic post, hc! Talk abt putting things in perspective. It is pretty astonishing to see what has transpired in this world in 500 yrs, isn’t it?
On a smaller scale, while visiting my 95 yr old great-aunt this past weekend, I couldn’t help but think abt ALL the changes she has seen in her long life. How incredible it must have been to her the last time we were up, and whipped out the computer, using a card to get internet access so she could see Ancestry.com.
Anyway – your new property sounds fantastic. What a wonderful retreat – as long as the bureaucrats allow you to enjoy it, that is!
Thankfully we have *the nicest* neighbors ever, anywhere. The entire little peninsula is united in its feeling that good neighbors mind their business and officials from the state of Marlyand are to be avoided.
The good folks of the unnamed (for its own protection!) Maryland town are quick to show up with a tractor when someone’s truck is stuck in the mud, they wave politely whenever you drive by, and their kids ride bikes and run around outside, being kids, without helecopter moms chasing behind with organic vegan tofurkey sandwiches on 7 grain ciabatta.
Most of the neighbors seem to attend church on Sunday, but they have nothing to say to me about not being there. Such a refreshing place after being in DC for so long.
They also eat squirrels and canadian geese. I am holding out on squirrel, but the goose jerky was very tasty.
My husband (and myself, im a good shot actually but I have a soft spot for all living things so probably will not go) are invited out to the next big goose massacre. In the area canadian geese are becoming a huge issue – they couldnt find canada with a map and a bus ticket, and they apparently have few, if any, predators.
Now if we could just finish the renovation project and move in full time I would be thrilled! Even my little bichon frise loves it, although she is a city girl and wont pee off a leash lol.
Super about the 95 year old auntie getting online! I am sure she was thrilled!
Squirrels are tasty (I know, I’m a Cro-Magnon). You learn to eat a lot of things in Oklahoma as the The American Indians (which is what they call themselves) have a varied cuisine.
I would try some squrrels…do you have to season it well?
From what my neighbor says they soak it overnight in brine. But that may just be a Maryland thing. Apparently it can be a bit gamey, but the brine removes some of the fat and oil.
Tasty? I will let you know. Apparently it works on the Canadian Goose too.
Brine could work, too.
I did, because it is a tad gamey but is great in a curry which has been allowed to cook all day.
1500?………Wasn`t that about the same time Reid and Pelosi entered politics?
1500, 1499 or thereabouts, as memory serves.
hc123—– terrific, interesting post! Thank you so much.
You’ve inspired me to write verse:
“I think that I shall never see
A poem as ugly as beaurocracy……….”
“Bureaucracy”!!!
Spelling: it’s not just for kids anymore (LOL)
Nice!
Sorry for O/T but you have to read this.
If you haven’t gotten enough of Barack Obama lecturing on constitutional law, just wait until you get a chance to read the White House’s take on presidential history. Rory Cooper at the Heritage Foundation was the first to notice that the Obama administration edited the official presidential histories on the White House website to include a blurb about Obama on the page dedicated to Ronald Reagan. Commentary’s Seth Mandel followed up and found numerous other examples:
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/05/15/obama-in-history/#comments
I updated the title to make it an open thread, so we have one “above the fold”.
I read this, seriously vile. What kind of person edits history and puts his name as a footnote on every single page? Who the hell votes for a person like that?
HARP. OMG, what a self-absorbed ego maniac. This is reminiscent of the cult of personalities that developed around such sundry figures as Stalin, Mao, and the sundry Kims in North Korea. He is a dangerous fool who will get us all killed. What a psychopath.
I’m going to make this a post in its own right.
Ouch! So 1984 ministry of the truth stuff. Orewell would piss himself with laughter.
What a wonderful story. Thanks HC123. What a desk.
Thanks teak!
What an awesome post HC123. A sad tale but beautiful. She stood through the very first days of old America. And then some. Wow. Thanks for sharing this post I had no idea.
There are still living reminders of history out there – the signing of the Magna Carta and the Ankerwycke Yew for example…. a 2,000 year old tree that still stands today under whose branches King John and the Barons gathered.
Incredible. Wish I could go to that spot someday…
Thanks beyondwords, I also didnt know how old the oak was, or how large.
This Ankerwycke Yew is very cool. Keep the Maryland state foresters away!
There are trees in Lebanon under the protection of the Maronite patriarch that are also of that 2000 years old age range. This isnt the best description, the author is confusing two different reserves, but it gives an idea. http://www.habeeb.com/cedar.of.lebanon/cedars.of.lebanon.photos.1.html
Oddly there are 2 cedars at my new property that I just dug out from a mountain of girdling vines. They “tip their head to god” just like the lebanese cedars do (its what gives them their distinctive shape, the branches start to grow sideways at some point in their development). I wonder how they got there, because such trees are not native to the area.
What gorgeous trees. I’d take a wager they were “imported” sometime during the crusades? 11th or 12th century perhaps?. Very northern-european looking.
Cedrus libani is actually native to Lebanon. They are on the flag of Lebanon, which is actually quite pretty. Two red bars and a big tree.
Cedrus libani grows in the high (3000m) mountains – much like in the US Rocky mountains there are dogged pine trees that grow where nothing else will. The wood was used by the phoenicians to make ships, and by the egyptians (among others) as roofing materials for their temples. They are mentioned in the Gilgamesh story as well.
Oh my land I found a dead boat named the Opa! painted like a greek fishing boat, and there are native cedars in Greece and Turkey that are very similar to those in Lebanon. I have been asking around and it seems that there was a Greek family living there a while back. Who knows, maybe they planted the cedars of maryland 50 years ago. The property was a forclosure so it will likely remain a mystery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedrus_libani
http://alumni.eecs.berkeley.edu/~dany/lebanon/Cedars/cedar2.txt