THE FULL STORY
A name and a stump is all that remains of the once-celebrated Inspiration Oak at this reopened Baldwin County park on U.S. 98 near Weeks Bay.
In the late 1980s it was widely believed that the live oak could be upwards of 500 years old, dating back to the days of Columbus’ voyages to the New World. Its true age, however, was a fraction of that and discovered only after its death. But first things first.
The gates to the 6-foot-tall, chain-link fence surrounding Inspiration Oak Park were removed in the fall of 2013 without much notice, opening the 2.8-acre site between Magnolia Springs and Fairhope for the first time since 2000.
In the heart of the park, resting like a felled headstone, is a 7-foot-wide stump rising a foot out of the ground. It’s the end result of a 1990 land dispute between Baldwin County and the then property owner. In October of that year an unknown individual girdled the live oak’s 27-foot-round trunk with a chainsaw, cutting off the tree’s food supply.
After the incident, the county forcibly acquired the land through condemnation proceedings.
Rescue efforts and a grassroots Save the Tree campaign followed the vandalism, gaining international attention. The tree became a tourist attraction with thousands of dollars raised to save it.
News reports at the time said people traveled from as far as Russia to view what was known locally as “The Tree” with branches spanning nearly 200 feet. A guest register at the park kept track of some of the thousands of visitors who made pilgrimages to the landmark, with many leaving well-wishes. The park even had a gift shop of Inspiration Oak memorabilia.
By 1993, the efforts by biologists and foresters to graft the tree’s gashes proved to be in vain and the live oak was declared dead.
Visits to the park trailed off in the ensuing years as the tree and its large sprawling branches began to decay. The Baldwin County Commission closed the park in 2000 over fears that the branches could break off and injure visitors.
Three years later the tree was cut down and a fundraising campaign sold pieces of the tree called “cookies” for $20. At least 44 schools across the county had a piece to be used as educational timelines.
That same year, in the fall of 2003, scientists at Auburn University tasked with determining the tree’s actual age reported their unexpected findings -- the live oak was not, in fact, hundreds of years old but only about 90. The news landed like a sucker punch to the gut.
What the future holds for the park is anyone’s guess.
SOURCE: http://blog.al.com/live/2013/11/inspiration_oak_may_be_gone_bu.html