What’s the story behind the “Tree that Owns Itself” in Athens?
The “Tree that Owns Itself” is a large, leafy white oak in Athens’ Dearing Street Historic District, located just off the University of Georgia campus. Regardless of whether the tree’s tale has any standing, the truth may be stranger than fiction.
According to legend, Col. William H. Jackson, the landowner, left the tree ownership of itself, as well the grounds within 8 feet, in his will circa 1832. The property deed was never located.
“Back then, it was not unusual for people to have some very odd allegiances,” said Larry Dendy, Athens Historical Society board member and author of “Through the Arch: An Illustrated Guide to the University of Georgia Campus.”
However, that decree may have appeared in a local newspaper and not Jackson’s will, said UGA archivist emeritus Steven Brown, citing Hubert McAlexander’s 2014 book, “The Tangible Past in Athens, Georgia,” and a 1962 piece by E. Merton Coulter in the “Georgia Historical Quarterly.”
In 1890, Athens Banner editor Larry Gantt published a piece quoting from Col. Jackson’s will that he decreed the tree its own land.
According to Coulter’s research, Jackson sold his house in 1832 and moved away. While he was a member of UGA’s first graduating class in 1804 and later a UGA trustee, Jackson most likely never returned to Athens to live.
“The scholarly conclusion of Coulter and McAlexander — Gantt concocted the tale on a slow news day, and it charmed Athens so much that it sprang to life,” Brown wrote in an email.
In 1907, philanthropist George Foster Peabody paid for a plaque, fence and wall around the tree, according to McAlexander’s book. In 1942, the original tree was swept over by a windstorm, and the Junior Ladies Garden Club planted a sapling from one of its acorns in 1946.
The towering oak grew on the same spot as its predecessor, at the intersection of Dearing and Finley streets. The plaque holds Jackson’s alleged decree: “For and in consideration of the great love I bear this tree and the great desire I have for its protection, for all time, I convey entire possession of itself and all land within eight feet of the tree on all sides.”
Athens landmarks also include a musical icon that could be reconstructed by the end of the year. The brick steeple of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church on Oconee Street, near new high-rise downtown student apartments, marks the location of the band R.E.M.’s first show.
Built in 1871, the church was converted to student apartments by the mid-1900s. Someone busted through a closet to reach the closed-off sanctuary, where bands would play, said Bob Sleppy, director of Nuci’s Space, a nonprofit suicide prevention and mental health services organization. In 1980, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Peter Buck were living there when the still-unnamed group played a show for a friend’s birthday party.
R.E.M. eventually became a household name, but the church deteriorated and all but the steeple was demolished in 1990. Nuci’s Space, which has stewardship of the property, is renovating the steeple.
To see these landmarks, visit Athens during AthFest, an annual downtown music and arts festival from June 23-25.
If you’re new in town or have questions about this special place we call home, ask us! Email q&a@ajc.com or call 404-222-2002.
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