Trees to see in Rockport Tx
Darla is my scribe and she is starting to get the hang of typing with no opposable thumbs! Good work Darla.
So, we are in Rockport Texas. On the Gulf Coast at a section called the coastal bend. It is really nice here. First spring break week and it got cold — really cold. 48 degrees cold! That is 9 degrees for our Canadian friends.
In there is quite a lot to see and do in Rockport. Two of the most popular things to see are trees. Both are Texas live oaks. Just like southern live oaks but more drought resistant and they sometimes have multiple trunks.
The first tree is the windmill in a tree. A hurricane in 1919 blue a windmill into a tree — where it still is today.
Just a tree in someone’s front yard in Fulton — one town over If you didn’t know it was there, you would totally miss it.
The tree has totally grown around the windmill.
The 2nd tree is the Big Tree. I copied all the info below from Wikipedia.
The “Big Tree”, near the town of Rockport, Texas, is one of the most famous live oaks in the world after being named “Texas State Champion Virginia Live Oak” (Quercus virginiana) in 1969. The tree retained that title until 2003, when a larger oak was discovered in Brazoria County, Texas. The “Big Tree” is still thought to be one of the largest live oak specimens in the United States.
Despite the widespread, historically significant devastation of the surrounding region, the “Big Tree” was relatively unscathed by Hurricane Harvey, a category 4 hurricane that hit Rockport on August 25, 2017.
The “Big Tree” is near the town of Lamar in Goose Island State Park. During the Civil War, Lamar was bombarded and destroyed by the Union Navy. All that remained were the ruins of a few old shellcrete (oyster shell concrete) homes, a Catholic chapel, and the “Big Tree”.
According to climatologists, the “Big Tree” has survived from anywhere between forty and fifty major hurricanes, including the most recent, Harvey, as well asnumerous floods, droughts and wildfires.
The “Big Tree” is a species of oak called Quercus virginiana. These oak trees can be found from Texas to Florida with their range extending northward to Virginia. The common name for the Quercus virginiana is the live oak but includes the names southern live oak and the Texas live oak too. Live oak growth rate and size vary by location. The largest examples tend to grow further inland, while live oaks in coastal regions are usually smaller. Therefore, the size of the “Big Tree” makes it a rare specimen for a coastal location.
The Texas Forest Service estimates the tree to be over 1,000 years old, while other recent estimates place it nearer to 2,000 years old
The Big Tree is very, very old and needs a cane…… Anyway, we took a day to see notable trees in the area.
