Discover the Oldest Tree in Texas

Texas is known for its farms, the Tornado Valley, and astounding fossil discoveries, but did you know it’s also home to some amazing ancient trees? Let’s discover the oldest tree in Texas.

The Oldest Tree in Texas

The oldest tree in Texas is the Goose Island Oak, aka The Big Tree, The Bishop’s Tree, or The Lamar Oak.

This tree of many names is a Virginia Live Oak (quercus viginiana) estimated to be between 1000 and 2000 years old.

If it is 1,000 years old, it’s comparable in age with the last invasion of Britain by William of Orange (William the Conqueror) in 1066. It also means it stood 500 years before Christopher Columbus found the Americas in 1492.

This tree has seen a lot! It’s rumored to have stood over hangings, sheltered pirates, and hosted the Native American Karankawa tribe ceremonies.

It was also one of the few things still standing after the Union Navy destroyed the nearby town of Lamar during the Civil War. Only the Catholic chapel, a few homes, and The Big Tree survived the bombardment.

How Big Is Texas’s Oldest Tree?

The Big Tree is over 44 feet tall (13.4 meters), with a crown spreading over 90 feet. The circumference of its trunk is over 35 feet. Rangers think the Goose Island Oak isn’t the tallest tree in Texas because a continuous gulf breeze slows its growth.

And speaking of strong winds, experts think the Goose Island Oak has survived encounters with 40-50 hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, and floods.

Where is the Oldest Tree in Texas?

If you want to discover the oldest tree in Texas for yourself, you find it near Lamar town in Goose Island State Park off Highway 35 before the Copano Causeway.

This tree is roped off to keep inquisitive hands at bay, but you can stand in its shade and soak up its epic age.

What is the Tallest Tree in Texas?

The Goose Island Oak is probably the oldest tree in Texas, but it’s not the tallest. That honor belongs to the Texas Champion Loblolly Pine.

This conifer is 130 feet tall, has a spreading crown of 49 feet, and a 22 feet trunk circumference. It’s a totally different tree species from The Big Oak, as seen in its height and trunk measurements below.

Loblolly Pine is situated in the T.L.L. Temple Foundation Boggy Slough Conservation Area west of Lufkin, but it’s dwarfed by a coastal redwood tree called Hyperion that’s 380 feet tall.

This giant redwood is the tallest tree in the world. It is hidden away in northern California’s Redwoods National and State Park to avoid any more tourist damage to its environment.

There must be something special in this park’s soil because the second and third tallest trees grow there too! These runner-up giant coastal redwoods are called Helios and Icarus. Hyperion beats Helios’s height by only just over three feet.

What Trees Are Native to Texas?

Here are some of the most common native trees in Texas:

• Live oak (Quercus virginiana)
• Cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia)
• Texas ash (Fraxinus albicans)
• Shumard oak (Quercus  Lobatae)
• Black cherry (Prunus serotinea)
• Mexican white oak (Quercus polymorpha)

Native Texan trees are tough and able to cope with drought and strong winds. If you want to plant a tree in Texas, choosing one of the native species means much less yard work!

The most commonly planted native tree in Texas is the live oak, so called because they keep their green leaves in winter when other oaks shed. They are native to the northern areas of the Gulf Coast, drought tolerant once established, and can live for hundreds of years.

The oldest tree in Texas is a live oak.

How Many Trees Grow in Texas?

Texas has an estimated 15.6 million trees.

Although it has the most farms in the United States, the U.S. Forest Service manages four forests totalling 675,000 acres of public land there. The forests are Davy Crockett, Angelina, Sabine, and Sam Houston. There are also trees in the Caddo-Lyndon B Johnson National Grasslands.

Texas has one of the highest tree counts for its small percentage of forest land. There are 25 million acres of forest which accounts for 37.33% of the state.

How Can You Tell the Age of a Tree?

A scientific process called dendrochronology is used to calculate tree age.

The most reliable way to date a tree is by counting its growth rings. Each season, a tree adds another layer to its outer bark. By drilling a bore into its trunk, a section can be extracted, and the rings counted. Other tree-dating methods include root sampling and desktop research.

Dendrochronology is used to date living trees and timber from archaeological finds. The oldest dated worked wood was found in the Czech Republic. It was from a wood-lined well that dated from 5256/55 BC in the early Neolithic age.

Seven Old Texan Trees

If you’ve discovered the oldest tree in Texas and want to find more ancient Texan trees, here’s a list to work your way through.

Columbus Oak

The second largest oak in Texas is around 500 years old. Named the Columbus Oak, its located on the main street in Columbus near the Colorado River.

Stephen F Austin, known as The Father of Texas, settled the surrounding land in 1825, and since then, the locals have propped up the Columbus Oak with steel poles to help support its branch weight.

Freedmen’s Bois d’Arc

This Osage orange tree (Maclure pomifera) is 200 years old. It’s in Brazoria, Texas. Although it’s a dead tree, it’s still standing.

The Old Baldy

If you want to discover the oldest tree in Texas that isn’t an oak tree, seek out this bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) in Onion Creek, Austin.

Old Baldy is over 550 years old, 103 feet high, and has a 17 feet trunk circumference. Baldy has previously won Austin’s Tree of the Year Award.  

It’s easy to find Old Baldy on a hiking trail through Onion Creek. The Franciscan missionary Father Isidro Felix de Espinosa wrote about this tree in his diary. That was in 1716!

Bur Oak

Tucked away in Bob Woodruff Park, Plano is a 400-year-old bur oak (Quercus fusiformis). This old tree was thought to be only 200 years old, but when a branch fell, it was found to be over 400 years old.

People have kept this old oak upright over the years. It’s patched and supported but still alive and over 90 feet tall with a 16 feet trunk circumference.

The Waco Oak

Waco Oak can be found in the City of Waco and is 400-600 years old.

Will this oak grove reach the 1000-2000 years old mark? It’s certainly on its way. The grove’s tallest part is 60 feet tall, and its chunkiest trunk section has a 19 feet circumference.

Founder’s Oak

This bur oak tree (Quercus fusiformis) is around 400 years old. This beauty is in Landa Park, New Braunfels, close to the Comal River. As well as advanced age, this old oak has a 17 feet trunk circumference.

The Treaty Oak

The Treaty Oak (Quercus fusiformis) is over 500 years old and located in West Line Historic District, Austin.

Historians think the Native America Tonkawa and Comanche tribes met beneath its canopy.

Bizarrely someone poisoned this ancient oak! It lost a few branches but was ultimately saved with replacement soil and a thorough wash with spring water.

The Oldest Tree in the World

We set out to discover the oldest tree in Texas and found our winner. The Big Tree of Goose Island is the oldest in Texas, but its estimated 1000-2000 years make it a mere sapling compared to the oldest tree in the world!

The oldest tree in the world is the 4,853-year-old Methuselah tree. This ancient tree is as old as the Egyptian pyramids and is the oldest living thing on Earth.  

It’s a bristlecone pine in the Inyo National Forest of California’s Great Basin. Other 3,000-year-old ancient trees surround Methuselah, so it’s a place steeped in age. The Big Tree of Texas has not been scientifically dated, but in 1957 experts took samples of Methuselah’s neighbors and were able to date them to 1000 BC.

In Chili’s La Union Valley, there’s a Patagonian cypress tree named Gran Abeulo (the great-grandfather) that experts estimate dates back 5,484 years, which is 600 years older than Methuselah. This tree is so old that experts were unable to reach all the way into its core to obtain growth ring samples.

But who knows, Gran Abeulo might one day be confirmed older than Methuselah and take the world’s oldest tree title.

Where is Goose Island State Park Located on a Map?

Goose Island State Park, situated on the Gulf of Mexico coastline to the north of Rockport, is a state park spanning an area of 321.4 acres. It is encircled by St. Charles and Aransas Bays and was established between 1931 and 1935 through the purchase of land from private proprietors.

Here is Goose Island State Park on a map: