One of Hendersonville’s oldest and largest trees fell victim to the strong winds and storm last week. Many residents visited the site the next morning to take pictures and mourn the loss of beauty that stood at the corner of Forest Retreat Road and Hillwood Drive in the Glenbrook area.

Last Friday, Mayor Scott Foster tweeted, “Hendersonville lost a dear old friend last night. The Champion Bur Oak Tree at the corner of Forest Retreat and Glenbrook Way, at the Celebration of Life Church, estimated to be the largest in Tennessee at 150 to 200 years old, was uprooted by the storm. The tree is a likely a veteran of the Civil War.”

Fire Chief Jamie Steele shared a story that was printed in an April 2012 issue of The Hendersonville Standard about the tree being saved by the efforts of the late Fire Captain Larry Deen. “Maybe 30 years ago, a large tree off Forest Retreat, by what is now Celebration of Life church, was struck by lightning and caught fire. It was out of the city and we did everything we could to try save it. Larry knew we couldn’t drop everything to continue to work on that tree so, on his own, Larry took a reserve engine and he and a couple firemen saved that tree. He went out there all hours of the night and baby-sat that tree and every time a cinder flared, he would get some water on it. I would dare say that Larry spent hundreds of hours working on that tree. That’s the kind of guy he was. He saw the importance of that tree and worked and worked to salvage that tree. You look at that tree today and its hundreds of years old. God put Larry on this earth for lots of reasons but I think one of those reasons was to save that tree.”

Charred evidence of the fire was visible as the tree lay on its side.

-         Staff Reports