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HALL OF FAME" FOR TREES 



THE WESLEY OAK 



T'HE Wesley Oak, on St. Simon's Island, off the 

 coast of Georgia, is one of the trees of America 

 zvhich well deserves a place in the "Hall of Fame" of 

 historical trees, for zvhich it has been nominated by 

 Mrs. Mary M. North, of Herndon, Virginia, and Jo- 

 seph P. Jay, Editor of the "Christian Advocate." 



Among the noble oaks of the country there is not one 

 more beautiful nor more symmetrical in its spread of 

 branches. Additional interest to the sightseer and trav- 

 eler is its drapery of Spanish moss, zvhich covers it like 

 a veil f e s- 

 tooned from 

 royal, tozver- 

 ing crozvn to 

 zvell-anchored 

 trunk, and 

 finally szveep- 

 ing the friend- 

 ly ground 

 which sustains 

 it and drinks 

 in the gentle 

 shozversor 

 beating rains 

 zv hie h fall 

 through t h e 

 zvide spread- 

 ing branches 

 of the great 

 tree. Behind 

 this aged, yet 

 ever young 

 tree, and un- 

 der some of 

 its sheltering 

 branches, i s 

 an Episcopal 

 church, zvhile 

 only a short 

 distance azvay 

 is the orphan- 

 age of the church. Our country zvas very 

 young zvhen this oak, zurhich was destined to become 

 famous, was used as a sanctuary by the preacher, who 

 was of the Wesley family, a clergyman of the Church 

 of England, and the son of a clergyman, but who was 

 protesting against some of the usages rife in church 

 quarters at that time. When the brothers, John and 

 Charles, came to America, they were still in the An- 



glican Church. Both John and Charles preached under 

 this oak to the British soldiers who were quartered 

 upon St. Simon's Island. 



During the early part of the last century the remains 

 of the old platform which the preachers used for a pul- 

 pit were still standing. The tradition of that section 

 records that in the early days there zvas a fort at Fred- 

 ericka, where the British made a stand against the 

 Spanish, and some of the camion are there yet. It was 

 to the men in that fort that the Wesleys preached, as 



well as to oth- 

 ers. John 

 Wesley also 

 preached in a 

 church in Sa- 

 vannah and 

 had a Sabbath 

 school in that 

 place, his 

 brother 

 Charles, t h e 

 hymn writer, 

 being with 

 him. The two 

 graduates o f 

 Oxford, Eng- 

 land, came to 

 this country 

 by the invita- 

 tion of Gov- 

 er n or Ogle- 

 t h or p e, of 

 Georgia, who 

 founded Sa- 

 vannah. 



No minis- 

 ter zvas there 

 at that time, 

 and the Gov- 

 ernor desired 

 the Wesleys 

 country, so 

 Wesley, a 



THE WESLEY OAK 



to preach in the young, but growing, 

 they accepted the invitation. John 

 Methodist in practice and belief, but a priest in the 

 Anglican Church, preached his first sermon in America 

 in 1736 and remained in this country until 1737, when 

 he returned to England. There he continued the great 

 work which has made his nam famous and familiar 

 both in America and over the zvorld. 



