By BOB GUSTIN, for The Democrat
VAN BUREN TWP. — For years, a massive white oak tree towered over Hamilton Creek Road, notable for its size and age, even in the thick hardwood forests of southern Brown County.
Then, on the morning of Aug. 8, Magnificent Mary fell to earth.
The tree was named by the owners of the land on which it stood, Tim and Debbie Kelley.
Tim said a brief but strong storm with rain and high winds struck the night before, and neighbors reported it falling the next morning.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Certified arborist Simon Normile of All Things Green Tree Surgeons in Brown County, who the Kelleys previously hired to work on the tree, told the Kelleys it was one of the biggest white oaks he knew of in Brown County. It had a limb spread of about 100 feet diameter.
Normile estimated the tree to be 150 to 175 years old, with a height of about 80 feet. The circumference at the base of the tree was about 18 feet, making a diameter of about 6 feet.
If he’s right about the age of the tree, it was probably around when Abraham Lincoln was president and Brown County was a wild and untamed area, decades before automobiles puttered through Van Buren Township. And it survived the era when the county was heavily logged, leading to later erosion and economic woes.
Normile said the tree caused almost no damage to anything when it fell, with just a small branch of a dogwood tree broken.
“She lived a long life, but when she went out, she went out in style,” Normile said.
Tim said he and Debbie have plans to use the wood for a mantel over their new fireplace and will do their best to have some furniture for their house made of it because they want to use the wood for something befitting its grandeur.
