I’m trying to collect information about the Friendship Oak Tree that was cut down in 1997. It used to sit at the intersection of Phelima and N. Jefferson. This is the only information I can find on the internet so far…
The 250-year old Friendship Oak was considered an historic Georgia tree. The 50-foot oak tree fell in 1997 after a judge refused to step in and thus a five-year preservation campaign ended. Admirers of the craggy Friendship Oak, with its 105-foot canopy, claimed the tree had historical and sentimental significance to the state. But, the tree also sat in the middle of an intersection used by commuters from one of Albany, Georgia’s fastest growing suburbs. One road leading into the T-shaped intersection was split in half to accommodate the tree. State officials wanted it removed for a road-widening project and the tree succumbed to community progress.
Karen Adams also did a painting in 1995 of the oak in her Clam House series. It measures 62.5″ x 46.5″
Source: Orlando Sentinel – October 15, 1995
The Friendship Oak appears doomed. Little more than a seedling when the first colonists came to Georgia in 1733, the live oak has held out its gnarled branches for 300 years. It stands in the middle of a busy intersection, causing traffic jams for motorists traveling to and from jobs in Georgia’s fifth-largest city and blocking a road-widening project. Now it is likely to be cut down, despite a three-year campaign to save it. The Georgia Supreme Court on Friday lifted a stay, paving the way for the tree’s removal.
Source: Chicago Tribune – November 12, 1995
Not since civil rights days has the town of Albany, Ga., been so divided. No one can agree on what to do about the Friendship Oak, a 50-foot-tall oak tree with a 105-foot canopy that is blocking a $2.8 million road-widening project aimed at relieving gargantuan traffic jams. The fate of the hallowed tree, which some say is 300 years old, is in the hands of the federal courts.
Source: Rome News Tribute – June 4, 1997 :: AP
The attorney for a group trying to save Albany’s Friendship Oak from the ax is still filing affidavits with a federal judge in whose hands the tree’s future is held. Attorney T. Gamble filed a motion last month in support of the 300-year-old tree. He filed an affidavit by Owen Winters, a Woodstock resident who believes his grandfather, a colonel during the Spanish-American War, told him stories about the oak. U.S. District Court Judge Louis Sands will decide whether to spare the 50-foot-high oak or allow the Georgia Department of Transportation to remove it, making way for a $2.8 million highway project. Winters said that when he was 6 or 7 years old, his grandfather, Col. Charles Rhodes, told him of a camp in a big open area where a large tree stood in south Georgia. “This tree was so large and visible that the soldiers gave directions from it…” according to the affidavit. “Everyone in the camp knew the tree as a large landmark and used it to help find their way around. “It is apparent to me now that my grandfather’s story concerned the area near Albany, Georgia where the Friendship Oak stands and surly the landmark tree in his descriptions is the one now described as the Friendship Oak.” Supporters say the tree was the center of a former Army camp where 3,000 soldiers of the Spanish-American was mustered during Albany’s harsh winter of 1898-99. Gamble said Tuesday he believes the DOT, ordered in October 1995 to research the historical significance of the tree before cutting it down, never researched it’s local significance and the public opinion of the tree. “We had offered the DOT two boxes of petitions from interested citizens to review while determining the historical significance of the tree, but they said they didn’t want them,” Gamble said. “I think the public interest in the tree is fairly significant.” The DOT countered by saying that Winter’s affidavit should not be considered because it is not supported by any “available reliable and verifiable evidence of the history of Albany. The petitions are not descriptions of this tree, but expressions of sentimentality or popularity.” Petitions of citizens are irrelevant under applicable law, it said. Sands has yet to decide whether he will consider the additional evidence in deciding the oak’s final fate.
Source:The Deseret News – June 14, 1997
A court case – Hatmaker vs Georgia DOT
http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=19972020973FSupp1047_11898.xml&docbase=CSLWAR2-1986-2006
trippmcree.wordpress.com 