412 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



"HALL OF FAME" FOR TREES 



landed him on the banks 

 of the Mississippi, in 

 whose waters he was 

 finally laid to rest. 



Soldiers of five zvars 

 have been drilled beneath 

 this tree, nominated for a 

 place in the Hall of Fame 

 by Mrs. H. F. Lewis, sec- 

 retary of Virginia for the 

 Daughters of the Ameri- 

 can Revolution. It is 

 known as the John Pem- 

 berton Oak. Under this 

 tree Colonel John Pcm- 

 berton mustered his troops 

 for the Battle of King's 

 Mountain in 1781. A 

 marker has been placed 

 on the tree by the Syca- 

 more Shoals Chapter. The 

 soldiers of the War of 



THE DESOTO OAK 



The DeSoto Oak in the Tampa Bay Hotel Grounds, nomi- 

 nated for a place in the Hall of Fame by J. E. Worthing- 

 ton, managing editor of the Tampa "Times," has much 

 upon which to base its claims for recognition. During the 

 War with Spain General Nelson A. Miles made his head- 

 quarters for a time under this tree, but the history of the 

 tree goes back much farther than that, according to Mr. 

 Worthington. Here is what he says: 



In the Tampa Bay Park is a large spreading oak tree 

 which, so legend says, was the resting place of DeSoto on 

 his first trip to Florida. 



The tree is situated about 100 feet from the main en- 

 trance and has a spread of 120 feet with a height of 

 approximately 80 feet. It is one of the handsomest and 

 best proportioned trees in the city. 



In the old Indian legends of the landing of the Spaniard 

 reference is made to meeting places under the great trees 

 and it may well be that this tree was one of them. At 

 least legend makes the claim for the old tree and has for 

 many years. 



In 1526, an associate of Cortes, at that time ruler of 

 Mexico, Pamphilo DeNarvaez, was made governor of 

 Florida. This daring fortune hunter, in company with 200 

 followers, sailed from Cuba and finally landed in Tampa 

 Bay. The expedition proved disastrous as the hostile 

 Indians set upon them and soon they were nearly an- 

 nihilated. 



In 1539 Ferdinand DeSoto waj appointed governor of 

 the provinces of Florida and Cuba, and with about 1,000 

 of Spain's most xcealthy and adventurous young men set 

 out for the conquest of the New World. 



DeSoto, who just prior to his appointment, had returned 

 from a successful expedition to Peru was filled with ardor 

 and desires for new fields of adventure. He landed on . 

 shores of Espiritu Santo (Holy Springs) Bay. 



There are said to have been conferences frith the Indians 

 under this tree before they and the cavaliers fell out and 

 DeSoto began that march which, after three years' time, 



THE JOHN PEMBERTON OAK 



