I love sharing some of the great points of interest from my little town of Mandeville, Louisiana! I have posted here on Connect about how I love to combine my love of hiking, or “wandering” and being a #localguide. While I walk through the woods, or on a trail, or through town, there are so many things available to see that are special and one of a kind! For instance, here in Mandeville, we are the home of the largest certified southern live oak tree!
The Seven Sisters Oak is thought to be approximately 1,500 years old! It’s trunk measures 467 inches around, it’s 68 feet tall, and spreads of 139 feet wide at the top. It is the National Champion on the National Register Of Big Trees, and also the Champion Oak of Louisiana.
Carole Hendry Doby, named the tree. She was one of was one of seven sisters, and the oak has seven sets of branches coming from the trunk. The Seven Sisters Oak is on a beautiful private estate, so it can only be viewed from the street. I have taken photos of it for #googlemaps, and #streetview , but you must really see in in person to do it justice as there are so many other large, beautiful oak trees on the property, taking a photograph around them from the street isn’t easy. In face several people have posted photos on Google Maps that are not of the tree, and not even the correct area.
Here are some of the photos I have taken and the Google Maps link. I hope you enjoy this beautiful, one of a kind wonder of nature!
@JacquelineB Hi! It is so great to talk to you here on Connect! I remember seeing all your beautiful photos of the cherry trees you have taken in your home town.
Thank you for sharing the detailed information about this tree. It is amazing how it survived for 1500 years. It is a good thing that it is located in a private estate and this way it could be preserved better but wouldn’t it be nice if people could do picnic below its thick shadow?
Could you share some other places in your area that you think might be interesting for the tourists?
Thank you @MoniDi ! Yes, the Seven Sisters Oak is truly a survivor. In August if 2005 Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 storm hit our town, devastating our area, killed 1577 people in our state, Louisiana, and yet this tree survived again! I would love to do more posts about my wonderful, historic town! Although we are only 6.7 square miles of land, we are the site of the world’s longest bridge over water, two of the earliest buildings in jazz history, have many buildings on the historic register, as well as being recipients of Google’s eCity award in 2013.
Hi @Erik_van_den_Ham ! As you probably know Wikipedia is just information contributed by everyday folks like you and me and they ask right on the page for updates for that information. I’m sure that is not an exact science dating these ancient Oak trees. These are the references I used at the time of my article that stated the tree was 1500 years old. The tree is magnificent to see at 1000,1200 or 1500 years old I can tell you! Check out my 360 photo on Street View!
