Page 29 - Our Place in History

Our Place in History

Live Oakers

It is a little known fact that Florida “Live Oakers”
played such an important part in our early history. The
early Spanish settlers and later the English found a great
Florida treasure, the Live Oak. Unfortunately, it was too
valuable and by 1800 large tracts of Florida live oak
forests had been cut down. The live oak was vital to
America’s shipbuilding in the early days. It often came in
exactly the right shape for ship’s frames, or knees, and
was almost indestructible compared with other available
woods. The wood was extremely valuable and a large
market existed for it in Europe, where most of the great
Live Oaks had long ago been cut down.

Nicknamed "Old Ironsides" the USS Constitution was
built from the early Florida Live Oak. These magnificent
trees, wanted for their buoyancy and strength, had "sides
like iron to repel cannon balls," reported papers of the
USS Constitution, or "Old Ironsides." What actually
occurred was the inability of 18-pound British cannonballs
to penetrate USS Constitution's hull, which is up to 25
inches thick at the waterline. Her hull comprises three
layers of oak: live oak (one of the most durable woods in
the world) for the frames or the middle layer, and white
oak for the planking, which rests on either side of the live
oak.

Still standing today, the Ormond Fairchild Oak,
measuring 24 feet in circumference, is the 15th largest
tree in Florida and still growing! Dr. David Fairchild, a
botanist, believed the tree to be a cross of a live oak and
laurel oak. The Ormond Fairchild Oak can be seen at The
Ormond Fairchild Oak Park, located on the Loop. The Loop
consists of John Anderson Drive around the wetlands
reconnecting into North Beach Street.

15