CHAPTER II 



The De Soto Oak The Catholic Oak The Wesley Oak Teach's Oak Two 

 Royal Oaks Whipping Tree at Peekskill Two Oaks that Own Them- 

 selves Indian Oak. 



THE DE SOTO OAK 



Both history and legend have given fame to the handsome, 

 spreading oak upon the grounds of the Tampa Bay Hotel, Fla., 

 whose branches shade an area of one hundred and twenty feet. 



In 1539, Ferdinand De Soto, whose name the tree bears, became 

 Governor of Florida. He was very fond of resting beneath the oak, 

 and is believed to have made a treaty with the Indians under its shade. 

 More than three hundred and fifty years later, during the Spanish- 

 American War, General Nelson A. Miles made his headquarters 

 beneath the venerable tree. 



THE CATHOLIC OAK 



In 1635, the Rev. William Blackstone, a clergyman of the 

 Church of England, moved from Boston to what is now the village 

 of Lonsdale, R. I., and is remembered as the first white man to settle 

 in that State. Close by his grave, near the corner of Broad and Mill 

 Streets, Lonsdale, stands the immense oak, its trunk measuring 

 twenty-seven feet at the ground-level, which he mentions in his writ- 

 ings as being in its prime in his day. 



The old oak has a singular history. In 1843, the Rev. James 

 Cook Richmond, a missionary of the Episcopal Church, passing on 

 his way to preach at a neighboring town, paused under its branches, 

 exclaiming, "What a beautiful tree that is ! I think I will hold services 

 here next Sunday." As if to form a natural pulpit, two large roots 

 on one side of the tree enclosed a hollow, where he stood while con- 

 ducting the services that soon became immensely popular. The first 

 one was held on Whit Sunday, June 4, 1843, when Mr. Richmond 

 christened the tree the "Catholic Oak," evidently using the adjective 

 in its broadest sense as signifying "universal," since the services were 

 intended for all, irrespective of creed. 



Crowds attended his first open air service of the Episcopal 

 Church in this country, it having been estimated that there were more 

 than six hundred persons present, many of whom never attended 

 church, but were doubtless attracted by the novelty of the proceeding. 



After preaching beneath the oak for several months, Mr. Rich- 

 mond was sent to another field, but returned every year, to hold 

 service under the tree on Whitsunday. About the year 1847, he went 

 again to Europe, taking with him an acorn from his beloved oak, and 

 planting it in England where it has grown and flourished. 



16 



