Random Obs

I bet you did a double take and hurt your neck when you saw that price!!

 

Mary Collins graciously shared this recent photo of herself next to the famous "Wedding Oak" in San Saba, Texas. The Wedding Oak of San Saba is a magnificent Live Oak tree that can’t be missed if you happen to be traveling on FM 200/China Creek Road, about 4 miles northwest of downtown San Saba. It is believed to be more than 1,000 years old.

Per the State of Texas, the Comanches chose this tree as site for council meetings, and it also served as a sacred venue for braves and squaws to exchange their wedding vows. Legend has it that they believed the tree to have magical powers to bless their wedding and ensure an everlasting and trusting relationship between the brave and the squaw.

In the mid-1800’s, early white settlers learned about the alleged powers of the wedding oak and began exchanging their vows there as well. In fact, there have been countless actual wedding ceremonies under its boughs including 3 that happened on Christmas Eve in 1911.
The tree lost a major limb during a big storm in the summer of 2017 and another in 2018. I posted about it then and hoped that it would survive. In all honesty, as old as the tree is and as big as the branches that fell were, I didn't have high hopes for it. But it appears to be rebounding. The last time I visited, in 2022, new branches were growing in the spot where the limbs had fallen as the tree was beginning to try to shield its trunk from the morning sun. You can see that in the blackened area above Mary's head in the upper right corner of the photo. I'm hoping it lives for a thousand more years.
Thank you, Mary

 

A few days ago I posted a photo of the famed Wedding Oak in San Saba, Texas, which is believed to be 1000 years old. An antique photo shows E.E. Riesen and students in front of the Wedding Oak roughly 100 years ago.