- April 16, 2024
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Local artist Kristin Heron visits the tree every year on her birthday (Photo by Emily Blackwood).
The Fairchild Oak has been around for over 400 years.
"I might cry," Kristin Heron said, turning right into Bulow Creek State Park. "I'll either cry because it's here or cry because it's gone."
According to the Florida Park Service sign posted at its entrance, the Fairchild Oak has "withstood hurricane winds, fires, droughts, wars and the follies of mankind for centuries." Now the over 400-year-old tree can add Hurricane Matthew to its list of disasters survived, only losing a few loose branches a tons of moss.
Heron, a local artist and Ormond Memorial Art Museum curator of education and outreach, has been coming to visit the tree every year on her birthday since 1996.
"I'm so relieved my tree is safe," she wrote in a post on Facebook.
According to the park's website, the tree is one of the largest live oak trees in the South.
