The Angel Oak Tree, a southern soldier

The Angel Oak Tree is a Southern live oak located in Angel Oak Park on Johns Island  near Charleston, South Carolina. It is a southern soldier that has stood guard over the south for hundreds of years. 

Native Americans, slaves and immigrants from many other countries have taken shelter from it's enormous limbs. The stories this old oak could tell would fill a book as large as it is. How many lovers has sat on its branches, or evil plots has it heard? It is a living monument to survival. To see this massive soldier is free and worthy of a visit.Who knows how many more years this majestic wonder has left...

According to several sources, this ancient tree is approximately 1,500 years old. That would make it about 1,100 years old when the Pilgrims first set foot in North America. It is said to be one of the OLDEST living organisms East of the Mississippi River, which makes standing in the shadows of its massive canopy a great honor. This tree has survived natural disasters like the Great Charleston Earthquake of 1886, the Hurricane of 1893, Hurricane Hugo in 1989, and countless humans climbing it's branches over more than a dozen centuries.

It stands 66.5 ft (20 m) tall, measures 28 ft (8.5 m) in circumference, and produces shade that covers 17,200 square feet (1,600 m2). Its longest branch distance is 187 ft. in length. 

The oak derives its name from the estate of Justis and Martha Angel, and local folklore tells stories of ghosts of former slaves appearing as angels around the tree. Recorded history traces the ownership of the live oak and surrounding land, back to the year 1717 when Abraham Waight received it as part of a small land grant. The tree stayed in the Waight family for four generations, and was part of a Marriage Settlement to Justus Angel and Martha Waight Tucker Angel. 

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