Ode to an Oak

If there is something about New Orleans that sticks in your memory, it is definitely Live Oaks. In fact, the icon for Newcomb College is the oak.

St. Charles Avenue, the boulevard that dissects Uptown, is lined with graceful oaks. Actually more impressive after dark, as they filter the light from the street-lamps and cast gorgeous shadows across the lanes.

Oaks can live 500 years and there are some in Audubon Park, which was once a cotton plantation, that are at least 300 years old. In Audubon Zoo, there's a sign, acknowledging their longevity, which predates both park and the plantation.

"Throughout the ancient world, trees were considered sacred. They were animate beings with souls or spirits much like our own."
William Guion

Below are the historic events witnessed by Audubon Park's mighty oaks:

1776 - The American Revolution

1803 - Louisiana Purchase

1814-15 - Battle of New Orleans

1837 - First recorded Mardi Gras Parade

1861-65 - Confederate and later Union Armies camped here

1884 - World's Industrial & Cotton Centennial Exposition

1934 - Merz Memorial Zoo opened

1972 - New Orleans voters approve funding for zoo expansion

1984 - Nancy Reagan names National landscape award