File:CharterOak.jpg: Difference between revisions

Block from a block-and-gavel set, carved from the "Charter Oak": a live oak which grew prominently at the corner of the College property, cut down due to old age in 1943. Local legend states that the oak was already growing when William & Mary received its Royal Charter in 1693. Analysis by Professor J.T. Baldwin in the 1960s, however, concluded that the tree started life in the 1770s, and so would have been growing during George Wythe's tenure as Professor of Law & Police.

From The Planting of a Campus Tradition (Martin Mathes, 1987):

"A significant live oak tree, noted by the first award in the Virginia Historical Tree Contest in March 1931, grew at the entrance to the College. This historic oak was designated as a line corner on the map of lands produced by Robert Beverly in June 1678. In 1931 the tree, listed as at least 275 years old, had a girth of 9½ feet and was titled "old monarch of Middle Plantation." Every means was employed to save the decaying behemouth but the Corner Live Oak was finally removed from the south side of the College entrance in 1943."