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Borden Oak LbNA #67942

Owner:Silver Eagle Supporter Verified
Plant date:Dec 9, 2014
Location: Evergreen Cemetery
City:Galveston
County:Galveston
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: Surfer0731
Last found:Feb 24, 2021
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFa
Last edited:Dec 4, 2015
*** Part of my Famous Trees Of TX Series ***
Terrain Difficulty: Easy (flat, 100 yards RT)
Recommended Ink: brown
Status: alive


Texans are fortunate to have such a rich and colorful historic heritage and trees which serve as witnesses to some of these historic events. Texas has also been blessed with trees famous for being the largest of their kind in America. "Famous Trees Of Texas" is a book written in 1970 by the Texas Forest Service that describes these trees, and this series will take you to some of them.


After the Great Galveston Storm of 1900 engineers agreed that the grade level of the island had to be raised and started filling everything with sand and shell dredged from the bay. The owner of this tree that survived the storm, Thomas Henry Borden, had a dike constructed about it to keep the salty fill from poisoning the tree. He hauled fresh water from cisterns and wells and kept the salt washed out of the seepage that crept in about the roots. After the grade leveling was completed and the salt dissipated from the soil, the well around the tree trunk was gradually filled and the base of the tree is now about 5 feet below the present ground level. Thanks to his efforts you can still admire this beautiful tree which came to be known as the Borden Oak, then visit his grave in nearby Evergreen Cemetery where this box resides. This is the story recounted in the book, but when I looked up Thomas Henry Borden I realized he died in 1877, so could not have been the one who saved the tree. I emailed the Texas Forest Service about the discrepancy and they confirmed something was wrong and would correct it in the new edition coming out in 2015. I guess we will have to wait until then to hear the truth, but the tree is still worth seeing now.

Directions:
From I45 continue on Broadway St about 2 miles, turn right on 35th street and go 1 block, then turn right on Ave K to see the Borden Oak on the left by the first house. For the letterbox, continue west on Ave K for about 0.4 mile to 40th street and continue into cemeteries almost all the way to 43rd street to entrance for Evergreen Cemetery on the right.

Clues:
Walk north into cemetery and go right on sidewalk to low red brick wall and turn left. Continue on sidewalk along wall as it jogs left then right to just before end near Broadway with grave of Thomas Borden on left. Go right 8 steps to Bollinger stone next to wall and find letterbox behind it under a rock and grass.