Hi I'm Herb a National Park ranger here at the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.
If you look around me we're seeing many palm trees mixed in with oak, live oaks
and in down behind me you'll see one of the largest oaks on the plantation. This
is over 500 years old and can tell many stories about what has happened here.
On this plantation there are over 25 tabby slave cabins this is the only place in the United States
that you'll find these cabins if you also look behind me with this massive live oak
this is where they came to have weddings also funerals where they had sorrow in their lives
and at the same time the enslaved people enjoyed song, dance, and hopeful prayers for the
future. The New York Times did a project on the 1619 research of slavery,
at that time the story came up with a child that was brought here with her family, her family
was sold into slavery all to different plantation owners, herself only being five
came to the plantation to help a man that had a sick wife but at the same time missing all
her family members, she came out to a live oak and would stand under it and start to remember
each family member, their face and their names and named each branch after that as you can see this
also brought her sorrow at times and happiness thinking that one day she might rejoin them.
In 2004, the oak tree became the national tree of the United States so we think it has earned
the right to be called a witness tree because it has experienced catastrophes, slavery, and wars
so we invite you to come out to this plantation that has many witness trees and experience it
yourself. We're here Wednesday through Sunday from the hours of nine till five thank you.