In 1851, the Big Tree came to its end in a heavy freshet which 

 washed away the river bank. A piece of its trunk was placed on 

 the Letchworth estate, in the neighborhood, near an old Indian Coun- 

 cil House, which had been moved there to be kept as a valuable relic, 

 after it had been abandoned by its former owners of the Senecas 

 tribe. 



The Rappite Oak 



In 1815, George Rapp, a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, pur- 

 chased 30,000 acres in Posey Co., Ind., near the confluence of the 

 Wabash and Ohio Rivers, and founded the community of New Har- 

 mony. The little settlement was governed by the principles of the 

 New Testament as he understood them, and was modelled after his 

 former one in Pennsylvania. 



On the night of their arrival at their new home, the colonists slept 

 under the shade of a large tree, which became known as the Rappite 

 Oak. Near it, their leader built his house, connecting it by an under- 

 ground passage with the fort. Traces of the quaint old settlement 

 still remain, in the odd little houses, none of which boasted a front 

 door, and one wing of the large church built in the form of a Greek 

 cross. 



During long years the historic rights of the old oak were 

 respected by later residents in the old home, and though showing the 

 approach of age, it was left standing. In 1900, a summer storm laid 

 it low, "after about ninety years of experience in song and story." 



15 



