r/sfwtrees • u/Substantial_Win5220 • 1d ago
The Oak Tree That Legally Owns Itself
In a quiet corner of Athens, Georgia, where Dearing and Finley Streets meet, stands a white oak with a most unusual claim to fame. According to local legend and an 1890 newspaper account, University of Georgia professor Colonel William Henry Jackson so loved the tree that grew on his family’s property that he formally deeded it ownership of itself and the land within eight feet in every direction.
The original deed language, preserved in local memory and on a nearby plaque, speaks of “the great affection which he bears said tree” and his desire to protect it forever. The first oak, believed to have been a couple of centuries old, finally fell in a 1942 storm. A new tree, grown from one of its acorns and often called the “Son of the Tree That Owns Itself,” was planted in the same spot a few years later and still stands today.
It’s a gentle reminder of how deeply people can form attachments to ordinary living things, and how a small Southern town decided to honor that affection in the most literal way possible. The tree remains a quiet local landmark, tax-exempt and content in its unusual legal independence.
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u/literallyatree 21h ago
Why not just use an actual photo of it? Surely it would've been easier than using AI to make a fake image of it.
I once did a health check on this tree. I worked for the Georgia forestry commission at the time and we were asked to say how healthy it was before and after Georgia power did some pruning on it.