The Simple Beauty and History of the American Oak

On a recent crisp Saturday morning, my father and I invested time, energy, and a little fuel pruning centuries-old southern live oak trees—a task that combines science and art in equal measure. The trees are impressive—their boughs twisting and turning like a meandering creek, searching for sunlight and fighting off gravity. Their natural beauty is sprinkled with an elegance that seems to transcend our world. That’s why Hollywood loves to use a live oak grove as a backdrop for any key southern scene, be it tragic or felicitous. They bear witness and are touchstones to unfolding events.

At one such live oak grove where my ancestors settled, I proposed to my wife, attended a cousin’s wedding, and laid a baby niece to eternal rest. Live oaks symbolize stability, beauty, and home for scores of families like mine. These three essentials are the foundation of our heart’s contentment. 

On that Saturday morning, little of our work involved removing dead or dying limbs. Most of our efforts were invested in amplifying the already-existing beauty. We pruned the growth that may become harmful in the coming years, affording the heritage oaks more nutrients and less stress than if left to their natural course. 

My father, the more adept and wiser arborist, indicated it was time to move onto the next tree by a look of resolve. In his thick Lowcountry brogue, he’d say, “That’s enough for now”—a pure statement of fact needing no discussion. 

The beauty and history of the live oak is tethered to our country’s beauty and history. Secretary of War Henry Knox ordered the use of live oaks to build the first frigates of the new U.S. Navy. The wood was particularly desirable because of the high tensile strength, and a strong resistance to disease. During George Washington’s presidency, it was a crime to export live oaks due to their strategic military importance.

Over the past several years we have witnessed an overly aggressive pruning of our country‘s role in building and preserving its Founding principles: principles that have cultivated  uncommon liberty, unmatched prosperity and opportunity, and transcendent beauty. 

This new year, we would all prosper by filling our hearts with a spirit of gratitude. We are the inheritors of the centuries-old American experiment. We have an obligation to remember and recognize the past and a responsibility to the future to honor and respect the self-evident truths on which our country was founded.