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- 

 dhased 30,000 acres in Posey Co., InxL, 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 tmderstood them, and was modelled after his 

 former one in Pennsylvania. 



On the ni^t 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 buUt 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. 



Din-ing 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 



