Long Beach, Mississippi: Friendship Oak - Older than America
This southern oak supposedly sprouted in 1487, making it well over 500 years old. According to the historical marker in front of the tree, friendship is conveyed to all who stand in the shade of its many branches.
University of Southern Mississippi
- Address:
- Beach Park Place, Long Beach, MS
- Directions:
- University of Southern Mississippi. From US Hwy 90/Beach Blvd E. turn onto campus at the stop light at Beach Park Place. Then make the first left. Up ahead is a small roundabout; Friendship Oak is off to the right side.
- Admission:
- Free
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The Friendship Oak has a fence around it asking people not to go directly under the tree, but you can still get under a branch that hangs into the road.
[Allison Margerison, 01/03/2019]
Friendship Oak is a 500-year-old southern oak on the Gulf Park campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Long Beach. Friendship Oak dates from the year 1487, and was a sapling at the time Christopher Columbus first discovered the New World. According to legend, those who enter the shade of its branches will remain friends for all their lives.
In August 2011, staff from the Mississippi Forestry Commission took measurements of Friendship Oak and recorded the tree was 59 feet in height, the circumference of the trunk was 19.8 feet, and the crown spread was 155 feet.
[B. Lambert, 04/07/2014]Nearby Offbeat Places
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The official historical marker is written in the imagined voice of the tree, which points out how generations of students have taken twigs and pieces of it as keepsakes. "Welcome friends."