The road we had to take to find this tree, Magazine Street, took us in front of the Whole Foods Market at Arabella Station. At the time, there was no Whole Foods in our town of Lafayette. Whole Foods for my husband and I has always been kind of magical. A friend of ours took us to the Whole Foods on Esplanade many years ago and we've been hooked since. We decided to get some lunch and picnic in the park before seeking out the Tree of Life. I love the fruit tarts and Martinelli's is the only apple juice I will drink.
Anyway, here's a little history on the Tree of Life.The Tree of Life is officially registered under the name Etienne de Boré Oak. This oak is enormous with a girth of approximately 35 feet and a crown of more than 160 feet. It is part of an old-growth oak grove near the Audubon Zoo. It was No. 13 on Edwin Lewis Stephens’ list of 34 original inductee trees. The tree is named for Jean Etienne de Boré, a significant person in Louisiana history. He was the first French planter to successfully granulate sugar cane into sugar. This process helped make sugarcane a very profitable crop of the antebellum south. De Boré was also the first mayor of New Orleans, prior to the Louisiana Purchase, before New Orleans was made part of the United States.
This tree is truly amazing to see. It is located in Audubon Park on the downriver side of the zoo. Audubon Park was once part of Etienne de Bore's large sugarcane plantation.
Any tree with a girth of more than 30 feet at 4 feet about ground level is estimated to be at least 500 years old. When this tree was registered, the girth was about 23 feet 1 inch. This tree is also one of the oldest 100 trees listed on the Live Oak Registry. Notice the gnarled roots that mound up around the base.
There are three other unnamed trees on the Registry that can be found in Audubon Park. They are elder members of the Registry. Two oaks, the George and Martha Washington oaks, were among the original members as well. Unfortunately, George has passed away but Martha still resides in the rhino enclosure at the zoo.
We stayed the night and had dinner at Cochon on Tchoupitoulas. We were sad when the Cochon in Lafayette closed so we decided to give the original a shot while we were in town. We were not disappointed. We didn't have reservations so we were seated outside. It was pretty hot and the setting sun was right in our faces. I was starting to question whether this had been a good idea and then the sun went behind the buildings. We ordered our food and some drinks. While waiting for the food, we got to watch the rhythm of the city, cars passing, the pedestrians and cyclists, and even got to see a wedding second line. Our food arrived pretty quickly and was so amazing! Cochon did not disappoint. Next time I visit, I want a seat outside!
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel, checked out, and headed to City Park in search of more trees. Finding trees on the Registry is kind of tricky since there is just a general location listed for each tree. Usually, I search the internet for clues on specific locations. I hadn't prepared in advance to look for trees at City Park but I knew there were several, including one of the two Dueling Oaks. I had also heard of the Singing Oak, which is not really an ancient tree, but is still pretty cool.
We got to the Park and parked by the New Orleans Museum of Art. We found several interesting trees along the edge of the pond. We also found the Singing Oak but didn't get any pictures of it. We struck out finding the location of the Dueling Oaks so we decided to check out the New Orleans Botanical Garden located in City Park. I really enjoy botanical gardens. It's like a museum for plants.
Our next tree adventure would be at Rip Van Winkle Gardens.
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