The Tree That Owns Itself

The Tree that Owns Itself is a large white oak (Quercus alba) at the corner of Dearing and Finley Streets. It is actually one grown from an acorn of the original Tree That Owns Itself, so-called because of a deed executed many years ago by Colonel W.H. Jackson: "For and in consideration of the great love I bear this tree and the great desire I have for its protection for all time, I convey entire possession of itself and the land within eight feet of it on all sides."

A high wind in 1942 felled the original tree, but a seedling carefully grown from one of its acorns was planted in 1946 by the Junior Ladies Garden Club, whose membership has tended the tree ever since. The story of the tree first appeared in the Athens Weekly Banner on August 12, 1890. In 1906, A.L. Hull told the story one again in his Annals of Athens. This story has also been the subject of Ripley's perennial column "Believe It or Not". Countless publications through the years have brought attention to the tree and it is often visited by tourists to the city and known to most Athenians. Most recently, the tree was named as one of the top ten insider spots of interest in Travelocity.com's "Local Secrets, Big Finds" international poll in 2005.

Around the turn of this century George F. Peabody, a philanthropist and benefactor to the University of Georgia, had the enclosure of granite posts and iron chain put around it with a white block set up with the words of the deed carved on it. Around 1942, the world famous majestic oak, over 100 feet tall and 15 feet around, fell, a victim of heart rot and high winds. Having gathered acorns from the tree for several years the Junior Ladies Garden Club had urged Athenians to germinate them, and planted a sapling of it at a dedication ceremony on Wednesday, December 5, 1946. This tree, a son of the original, now over 50 years old, has grown and flourished ever since, with the Junior Ladies Garden Club periodically providing maintenance weeding and loving care.

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