Live Oak Log

Live Oak Log (HM1APO)

Location: Stonington, CT 06355 New London County
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Country: United States of America
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N 41° 21.574', W 71° 57.883'

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Inscription
Live Oak Log
From the Gervais Family Plantation
John's Island, SC
This tree grew on the coast of South Carolina for over 600 years, until it was blown over by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. With help from the Gervais family, Mystic Seaport workers salvaged the tree along with ten trailer loads of prized live oak.
This tree was something of a family totem on the Gervais Plantation. Generations grew up playing on swings hung from its branches, and the family wanted to send the butt log to Mystic Seaport rather than have it destroyed.
Trees such as this one are also powerful symbols of African-American community as they are gathering points for social activities. On cold days, African-Americans living as slaves on the Gervais Plantation gathered around fires built up against this tree. Evidence of these fires can be seen in the burn marks within this log.
The gnarly growth that you see makes live oak a dense and strong wood, long favored by shipbuilders for frames and knees - parts of the structural system within a wooden ship. This fine shipbuilding wood is not generally available on the market. The upper branches from this tree have been used in various Mystic Seaport preservation projects, but there are no plans to saw up this huge log.
Details
HM NumberHM1APO
Tags
Placed ByMystic Seaport
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Tuesday, October 21st, 2014 at 7:10am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)19T E 252008 N 4582915
Decimal Degrees41.35956667, -71.96471667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 41° 21.574', W 71° 57.883'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds41° 21' 34.44" N, 71° 57' 52.98" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)860
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 41 Greenmanville Ave, Stonington CT 06355, US
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