LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Later this week, an iconic tree will be removed from where it has stood for at least three centuries.
Known as the Old Schoolhouse Oak in Lexington, the wind blew down this neighborhood icon on Friday. Now people who have long admired it, feel they've lost a piece of home.
"A long time, a lot of decades," said Susie Stewart.
Stewart has stories, but this tree has many more.
"If only they could talk," she said.
The branches have outlived the history books.
"We have over 100,000 trees in the Bluegrass that are pre-settlement," said Tom Kimmerer, a forest scientist who is responsible for the tree. "That is, before Europeans were here, that are older than the United States, 300 to 500 years old."
"I had always known if something took this tree out, it would be wind," Kimmerer said.
"Maybe one day we'll see something big and beautiful here again," Stewart said.
The inside may be empty, but it has filled the hearts for decade after decade.
