Lover's Oak gets preventative treatment
Mar. 9—Sandy Colhard's normally quiet stretch of Albany Street was far from peaceful Tuesday morning as tree care experts from Savannah performed some preventative maintenance on Lover's Oak.
"It was very loud, all the chainsaws, the wood chipper, that air compressor. So loud," she said.
The centuries-old live oak tree at the corner of Albany and Prince streets in Brunswick's historic district is estimated at anywhere from 350 to 900 years old, says Miriam Lancaster, a board member of the Golden Isles Fund for Trees.
The city and GIFT split the $11,735 bill for tree trimming, support cables and a fertilizer root treatment, she said.
"As far as we can tell, there's never been any preventative care," Lancaster said. "A truck hits a tree limb here or there and it gets trimmed."
At a recent meeting of the Brunswick Tree Board, Rick Charnock, assistant director of the city's Public Works Department, could not recall any in his 17-plus years with the city.
Sandy Colhard — not a member of GIFT's board but a frequent collaborator and dubbed "the guardian angel of Lover's Oak," by Lancaster — said the process got started in November of last year with an evaluation by St. Simons Island arborist Roger Ditmer. He volunteered his time and came back with a set of recommendations to maximize the old tree's longevity.
GIFT also raised money with a Lover's Oak Festival in 2019. Colhard's father, who also lived nearby, left the proceeds of his estate sale to the tree's care.
References to the tree in print date back to 1882 and photographs to 1890 per research conducted by GIFT. Legends tell of lovers from two Native American tribes who would meet under the tree, giving it its name.
A newspaper in Albany noted in 1889 that city authorities had circled Lover's Oak with a fence and made it a crime to deface it.
Another newspaper in Macon described it in these words in 1888: "Here was probably the trysting tree of many generations of dusky youths and maidens, and now it is still the favorite resort of young lovers. Could that old tree but talk, how many a true love tale of ardent vow and plighted troth could it make known."
Included in the package is new signage relating the known history of Lover's Oak, as well as ecological information on live oaks, Spanish moss and resurrection ferns.
Lancaster said GIFT plans to keep up with fertilizer treatments every three years or so.
For more information on GIFT, visit goldenislestrees.org. To contribute toward the maintenance of Lover's Oak, mail a check to P.O. Box 24038, St. Simons Island, GA 31522.
