Canopy

This inviting scene of over-arching live oak trees planted around 1967 is to be found near the photographers home town of Lake Jackson, TX.

They adorn the campus of the Brazosport College, a public college offering associate and some bachelor degrees. The 160 acre campus is built into the typical landscape found in this area of live and other oaks, elms, yaupons, pecans and an assortment of other indigenous trees.

The live oak (quercus virginiana) is iconic of the old South. Photos showing a lane lined with trees leading up to a plantation and draped with Spanish moss are likely live oaks. They can have a spread easily greater than their height, sometimes up to 90 feet. The near horizontal limbs may at times, droop toward the ground and then curve up again. A deep taproot and extensive root system provide a resilience that enables these magnificent trees to withstand hurricane force winds, something that this photographer witnessed for himself as a child growing up here. The live oak makes a wonderful shade tree as you can see in this image and offers a hardwood that was once preferred in the making of wooden ships. When the town of Lake Jackson was initially built in 1941, planners designated certain trees to be preserved as the town was carved out from the coastal forest. Perhaps some of those still line Lake Jackson’s oldest street, “Oak Drive.”

Photo taken May, 2022.