From Thirty Feet to Eternity

In South Louisiana, live oaks are heritage, heirlooms, and history all rolled into one. On the old land maps, oaks mark where one property line ended and another began. They were a point on the horizon at which to aim the blade of a plow or the nose of a tractor. They mark the intersections of crossroads where back roads cross and provide a shady spot for neighbors to park their pickups, pass a plastic thermos cup of chicory coffee, and discuss the weather. Duels were fought and honor won or lost under their bowed limbs. People picnic under them, get married under them, dance the two-step under them, and, finally when the music ends, are laid to rest alongside their massive roots. Those of us who grew up under the oaks intuitively recognize the deeper truth of this Southern icon—that more than any other aspect of the Louisiana landscape, the live oak reflects the most distinctive characteristics of the cultures and people that settled this rich alluvial region: strength of character, forbearance, longevity, and a hearty nature. 

The year 2015 marked thirty years that I’ve photographed live oaks in Louisiana and ten years since I began the 100 Oaks Project (documenting the one hundred oldest oaks in the Live Oak Society, whose purpose is explained in the caption for the St. John Cathedral Oak). Because of these milestones, I decided earlier this year to spend 2015 tracking down and photographing the very oldest surviving live oaks in the state—those trees with a girth of thirty-something feet or more.

According to several Louisiana arborists I consulted, oaks of this size are probably between four hundred and five hundred years of age. (Add another one hundred years or more to this estimate for those oaks with a girth greater than thirty-five feet.) That means these trees were growing before Europeans settled this continent. (The earliest colony was established in 1565 by the Spanish in St. Augustine, Florida.) And the oldest of these trees were quite possibly growing before the name “America” was first used in print in 1507 as a designation for this continent—in other words, before America was America.

One New Orleans arborist I contacted jokingly suggested I call my list the “30-something club.” So I’ve included in my search those live oaks that are almost thirty feet in girth (twenty-nine feet or greater). I feel that these venerable old oaks should be recognized as cultural and historical landmarks and deserve a more significant place in public awareness—and even some minimal protection—that would allow them to live to whatever ripe old age a live oak can live.

The St. John Cathedral Oak 
29' 6" in circumference | #65 of the Live Oak Society

As Saturday morning Mass let out and the sun was just clearing the tops of the surrounding buildings in downtown Lafayette, I made this portrait of the well-known St. John Cathedral Oak. The tree is the “second vice president” and one of the original member trees in the Live Oak Society, a unique organization whose members are all live oaks, with the exception of one human who serves as chairperson and maintains the roster of member trees. The society was founded by Dr. Edwin Lewis Stephens, first president of Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). He proposed a society of the largest and oldest live oak specimens in Louisiana. The organization’s purpose would be to identify and protect the old oaks for future generations. Though membership in the society doesn’t guarantee that an oak is spared removal, it has in several cases helped to raise public awareness and support to save specific old oaks. Currently, there are no state laws in Louisiana to protect heritage trees and only spotty local ordinances that offer any protection to an oak from human removal.

Randall Oak
35' 8" in circumference | #11 of the original Live Oak Society members 

I’ve seen and photographed many large and beautiful oaks in the past thirty years, but this oak was, to me, stunning in its size and scale. It’s not just the size but also the graceful flourishing shape of the Randall Oak that enhances its beauty. (For an idea of the scale of this tree, the split of the two main limbs seen in the photo is about five to six feet off the ground.) The oak was already a notable presence on the Pointe Coupee Parish landscape in 1861 when its current namesake, James Ryder Randall, penned one of the Civil War’s most famous anti-Union poem/songs titled “Maryland, My Maryland.” He supposedly wrote the verses while sitting under the tree’s sheltering limbs.

La Belle Colline Oak
34' 6" in circumference | #2219 of the Live Oak Society

I photographed La Belle Colline (in French, the name means “the lovely hill”) about an hour after sunrise in late September. This ancient oak overlooks a lush, grassy pasture that slopes slowly toward a distant line of trees where cows graze. True to its name, it offered a beautiful view from beneath its widespread limbs of what I suppose can be considered a hill in South Louisiana. Based on its location and the intersection of four fence lines near the oak, it was probably used as a boundary marker years ago to designate where one property line ended and another began. The oak was registered with the Live Oak Society by Camille Durand “Mamille” Johnson-Foret; the land where the tree resides has been in the Johnson family for several generations.

Edna Szymoniak Oak
35' 6" in circumference | #2072 of the Live Oak Society

This beautiful and healthy old live oak grows at the entrance to the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Center off the Old Hammond Highway. It is a perfect example of a healthy, well cared for oak under the ministrations of the AgCenter’s knowledgeable staff. They’ve applied mulch around its base, extending out to the edge of the limb-spread, and erected a small fence that minimizes foot traffic and ensures the tree’s root system is not compressed. The old oak was already several hundred years of age when, in 1922, the LSU AgCenter station was established to provide research for local strawberry and truck-crop farmers. The oak was registered with the Live Oak Society by the AgCenter and named after Edna Szymoniak, wife of Bill Szymoniak, the AgCenter’s first superintendent.

Bio

William Guion was introduced to photography as part of his journalism studies at Nicholls State University, and he pursued his photographic training after graduation through a combination of self-study and participation as student and assistant in various photography workshops. On the advice of one of his instructors to “find something you love, and photograph it over and over,” Guion began a series of photo studies of Louisiana live oaks beginning in 1985.

He has published three books of photographs paired with spiritual and inspirational writings (Heartwood, Meditations on Southern Oaks in 1998; Heartwood, Further Meditations on Oaks in 2009); and Across Golden Hills–Meditations on California Oaks in 2013).

For more information on the 30-something club, visit Guion’s blog at 100oaks.wordpress.com. To view his other live oak images, visit williamguion.com.