Highway Project Dooms Oak Tree

By Nikie Mayo, Sun Journal, New Bern, N.C.

Jul. 13–BRIDGETON — On U.S. 17 just outside Bridgeton, there is a tree that has been untended by human hands for decades — maybe even centuries.

From the highway, there’s nothing remarkable or striking about it.

The average driver might notice that its branches seem a little longer than most, but even those can be hard to spot amid the whir and whiz of traffic. That’s particularly true this time of year, when U.S. 17 becomes part of many a traveler’s path, either on the way to coastal vacation or on the way home from it.

Most observers wouldn’t notice that this seemingly ordinary laurel oak is impressive enough to be a potential champion. It stands 98 feet high and its crown spreads 106 feet.

It has been nominated for the North Carolina Championship Big Tree Program, which is administered by the N.C. Forest Service.

And within a week, it is scheduled to be cut down.

“I understand that it has to be cut down so that (U.S.) 17 can be widened,” said Robin Bradley, who nominated the tree for championship consideration. “I know that the paperwork won’t all get processed before the tree is cut, and I’m not trying to make a fuss at all about the widening. “I just want people to get a chance to see it before it’s gone.”

The tree stands near Phillips Plating Company in Bridgeton. It stands near the site of an old junkyard, not far from the railroad tracks.

Bradley lives just a couple of miles from there.

He has an engineering background and does radar work for Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point.

“I travel a lot for my job,” he said. “The tree is a landmark for me. When I see it, I know I’m almost home.”

Bradley says he first noticed the tree when he moved to the area 14 years ago.

He is a native of Oklahoma and says he can remember planting and growing things when he was in the third grade.

“I’m kind of a tree nut,” he says. “My parents always had the ‘Yard of the Month’ when I was growing up and my mom is into trees. They just kind of became my hobby.”

He owns five acres just outside Bridgeton that he calls his “manicured forest.”

“You know how some people are into hunting or into golf?” he asks, gesturing toward his land. “Well, I guess that this is my thing.”

But even the self-professed tree nut was surprised at the size of the laurel oak.

“I started to try to measure it myself with a string, but I knew pretty quick I was out of my league,” he said.

Bradley called in H.E. “Beau” Bremer, a retired forest ranger for the state. He has measured two other certified champions in Craven County. Bremer submitted the application for the laurel oak.

“I know it won’t be an official champion, but I still want to go forward with the certification,” Bradley said. “I still think it’s worth documenting and worth seeing, and I hope I end of being able to get the tree when they cut it.”

Unlike most champion trees, this laurel oak has never had any professional tending, Bradley said.

“It just ended up growing in the perfect manmade environment, between two very well-maintained things — the junkyard and the railroad,” he said. “And it got plenty of sunlight. I think that’s why it’s been safe all these years.”

Nikie Mayo can be reached at (252) 635-5665 or nmayo@freedomenc.com.

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