The Georgia Forestry Commission keeps a list of all of the champion trees of different species within our state. A champion tree is the best example of a specific species based on height, width, canopy spread, quality, etc. They are not super common. Less common than champion trees are having four of them (now three) on a piece of private property that isn’t an arboretum. And yet, that is exactly what has happened at the Tate House grounds.
Many of you are probably familiar with the Chinkapin Oak that now lies sideways on the front lawn. This 300-year-old tree fell in 2017. At one time it measured 82 feet high, and 18 and a half feet in circumference. It started to grow before America was a nation. That tree witnessed the Cherokee Highway that later became the Old Federal Rd. It saw the rise and fall of Harnage’s Tavern and the original Tate house. It witnessed that passage of President James Monroe. A tree that began in the Age of Enlightenment fell in the Information Age.
Chinkapin Oak
Tate property 1888
The white basswood stands 100 feet high with a circumference of 9 and a quarter feet.
White Basswood
A third champion tree is the Kentucky Coffeetree. It stands 130 feet high, with a circumference just under 10 feet.
Kentucky Coffeetree
And the final Champion tree of the Tate Property Eastern Hophornbeam stands 55 feet tall, 4 feet around.
Eastern Hophornbeam
Incidentally, a Jasper resident has another champion tree Acer. It stands 94 feet high and has a circumference of 18.4 feet across.
Acer
While Pickens County is home these champion trees, none of them qualify for the National list. Perhaps there’s a sapling growing in Bent Tree, or an unknown tree of tremendous size in some of our mountainous forests awaiting their nomination to the tree hall of fame.
In fact, I know of one such tree in Western Pickens County, it’s a beech tree that’s at least 200 years old. Maybe I should try and get it nominated. You can see it below.
Beech Tree West Pickens County
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