Serving as sort of a consolation prize after an aggravating change of plans, the most interesting thing about finding this live oak wasn’t the tree itself.

Hoping to visit Houston’s Museum of Natural Science with my son during Spring Break, I neglected to check their website, which would have told me that it was the free day. This discount opportunity creates an unbelievable traffic surge in the area.
After waiting in an excruciating looooooong line of cars, watching vehicles milling around the already full lot and carloads of people walking up from parking locations unknown, another problem emerged: I desperately needed to pee.
Hearing screaming children, I imagined long crowded lines, high entry fees and covid stress. I finally couldn’t take it any longer and just gave up, pulling away from the line of stalled traffic. We made like a tree — and left (leafed?) to locate a restroom.

Life just doesn’t go according to plan.

Sometimes you’re forced to revise and come up with something else.

It seems stupid now, but at that moment, I was near tears, despite my sweet kiddo’s attempts to chill me out.
Somehow I remembered the list made by our impressive host at the Modern B&B and blazed toward her recommendation. After soothing Indian food (and bladder relief), I had a new idea.
With rush hour traffic picking up, it was nearly an hour long drive to Liberty, Texas. Leaving the big city highways for the vast suburban sprawl east of Houston, there was not a minute of visual break from gas stations, fast food and strip malls littering the landscape. 

Directions were clear to the courthouse on Sam Houston street, where the Liberty Oak lives, but typical of my bumbling driving style, I managed to make a wrong turn.

All who wander are not lost.

I immediately noticed beautiful older trees in the neighborhood surrounding the courthouse.

Feeling a bit of tension wanting to find the “real” tree, I reluctantly bypassed these non-famous specimens, locating parking around the courthouse exterior. 

I gotta say… this one was not a looker on this particular day.

I’ve seen quite a few Quercus virginiana by now and this one just didn’t do much for me. 

Seeming a little stark and municipal in front of the limestone courthouse, it didn’t help that the record low temperatures we experienced in February sent evergreen live oaks into stress and they all dropped their leaves (like the Twin Oaks I hunted down a few weeks earlier). 

The book photo isn’t much prettier, but you can see it looks more leafy and robust in this Google street cam screenshot from a previous season.

History states that the tree was documented during an 1831 Mexican election to name the area Villa de la Santissima Trinidad de Las Libertad—Town of the Most Holy Trinity of Liberty. Famous Texans: Sam Houston and William Travis later had offices in the courthouse. 

The frustratingly written book uses the following paragraph to hand out a gold star for the fact that nearby streets were named for not only Sam and William, but also Mexican Generals: Antonio López de Santa Anna and Martin Perfecto de Cos. 

“Successfully reconciling past loyalties, the plaza and courthouse are on Sam Houston Avenue, a block away on either side are streets still named for their old Mexican Leaders: Santa Anna and Cos.” 

- Famous Trees of Texas

Yep. That’s all it took to reconcile everything! Are you kidding me??? This kind of oversimplification drives me crazy.

For what it’s worth, Santa Anna Avenue is a major thoroughfare, U.S. Highway 90, (on which we drove in from Houston), while the road named for General Martin Perfecto de Cos, a block away from the courthouse, is just Cos St. It looks like a misspelling.

Who would see this street sign and know what that meant? I forgot everything I might have sorta learned in 7th grade Texas History class, so I certainly did not. 

In Dallas, where I know most landscape plants well, I tend towards overconfidence when it comes to botanical knowledge. However, I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t recognize the epiphytic ferns covering the limbs. You can hear me stumbling over my words in the video, trying to name them. Ferns? Moss? Ferns. 

A frond from this exact plant serves as the logo for the company I work for, but since they aren’t winter hardy farther north, I was unfamiliar with the little fronds. I had it in my head that resurrection fern grew at the base of a redwood tree or something…?

After taking the regulation number of photos, we went tootling around to check out the other neighborhood trees.

One gorgeous oak seemed like an old friend with much more warmth and beauty (even without most of her leaves) nestled next to a lovely home and garden. She was undoubtedly alive in 1831 as well and could probably hear the election hubbub from a block or two away. 

Imagine what it must have looked like walking through a grove of these thick live oaks before any roads or structures were around. Driving through the neighborhood streets, you could almost envision it. Wandering a while seemed to kinda smooth over the earlier defeat, so we hit the road back towards Houston feeling like the day was salvaged.