Similar to the Auction Oaks I saw the day before, this tree provided shade for the first property auction in Kyle, when the town began, roughly 40 years after Austin.

The railroad needed a station town between Austin and San Antonio and Captain Ferguson Kyle (son of Colonel Claiborne Kyle, who donated land for the Kyle Cemetery) put up enough cash to get the town named after him.

Leaving Kyle cemetery, I navigated back toward the center of the town. Having entered the street name for the oak into apple maps (don’t judge! This is before I discovered the Famous Trees of Texas website with Google coordinates), I turned the first corner onto Sledge street as directed. Siri (or whoever) announced aloud: ARRIVED.

I stared at a good sized live oak right there on the corner. Seeing no official marker, I figured it was another decoy and continued down the street spotting the famous tree just a bit down the road.

Sitting on the edge of a older residential lot near the street, this huge oak has two enormous trunks that go in separate directions, similar to the one at the Better Half, but in much better condition. The cement ring around the trunk, shown in the book photo has thankfully been removed.

How did they accomplish that without damaging the roots?

This monster of a tree looks like it would be fun to climb and lounge on the prostrate branches. Being on personal property, I did not feel comfortable clawing around on a historical monument, but I kind of wish I had.

Someone walked out of the house across the street while I was snapping photos and I wondered how often anyone ever stopped to see this tree.

All the time? Never?

Until I met Noska and Doris Ann at Old Baldy, I had never seen anyone else paying attention to the trees I've visited.

Even after seeing so many trees in a matter of days, I still felt a sense of awe standing next to such a massive living thing.

My place in the universe seems clear when gazing up at an amazing old plant that has grown for so many decades, silently watching as things change.

The tree and historical marker are in front of 204 S. Sledge Street, in Kyle.

29°59'16.6"N 97°52'46.9"W