375-YEAR-OLD TREE SURVIVES HURRICANE

When Hurricane Laura made landfall last week in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as a category 4 hurricane, it unleashed destruction all around. But there was one thing it could not destroy: The Sallier Oak.

This fabled live oak tree, which grows its twisty branches on the grounds of the Imperial Calcasieu Museum in downtown Lake Charles, is said to date back to 1645 at the latest, making it at least 375-years-old. After Hurricane Laura wreaked havoc last week, locals feared the tree might have been damaged in the strongest storm to hit Louisiana since the last island hurricane of 1856. But just as the Sallier Oak has survived storms for centuries before—and even a lightning bolt—it endured Mother Nature's wrath this time, too.

“The Sallier Oak is much more than an old tree. There are literally thousands of majestic live oak trees throughout the South. But Sallier is special. When the oak was a sapling, the native Ishak camped on its sacred ground. The first European settler, Charles Sallier [the tree's namesake], sought refuge and then later romanced his beautiful Catherine under its branches. The Sallier Oak hosted Jean Lafitte's pirate band and Arsene Lebleu's cowboys when they traded doubloons [a Spanish gold coin] for beef," says Lake Charles historian Adley Cormier.

To read the complete article, see:
The Incredible Story of Lake Charles' Sallier Oak, a 375-Year-Old Tree, Which Just Survived Hurricane Laura (https://www.southernliving.com/news/local-news/the-sallier-oak-survives-hurricane-laura)

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