Swamp White Oak

The Swamp White Oak

Sometime in the early 1990s, Sister Marion Honors, who lives in the Studio at St. Joseph’s Provincial House in Latham, NY, discovered an immense tree on our grounds in the woods near a cemetery along Delatour Road. She eventually learned that it was a Swamp White Oak, (also known as White Marsh Oak), and most likely was over 350 years old. As excitement over the tree grew, the Sisters of St. Joseph in the Albany Province began to use it as a logo/symbol for the province. Truly the roots of this tree connect symbolically with our own roots, not only because of the Marquise and Madame de La Tour Du Pin, who lived in what is now the Novitiate House after they fled the Revolution in France, but also because of the fact that the tree most likely began as a seedling at the same time that Father Jean Pierre Medaille, SJ, was joining with six women in France to found the Sisters of St. Joseph!

A Resource Assessment Audit of 1996 (under Land Resources) states:

Observed Assets: The Latham Community is richly endowed with about 125 acres of property near metropolitan Albany of which about two thirds is motherhouse buildings, lawn, cemetery and roads, with the remaining portion in woodlands.  In these woods are some grand trees. A white marsh oak was found with a 20 foot girth (by a hugging measurement of six feet per two arm spans). This tree is worth celebrating. An incremental core age measurement is not recommended due to the harm that could occur, but with a life expectancy of 450 to 550 years, this tree could very well have existed when Marquise De La Tour Du Pin resided there. Our forest expert says from looking at the photo that it could have lived through the Revolutionary War.

This magnificent tree was chosen by the CSJ Days Planning Committee to be one of the sacred spaces during the time we were together for CSJ Days in August 2003. Members of the Home/Land Committee are preparing a prayerful walk around these sacred spaces in which one can participate in solitude or with a group.  Since the Swamp White Oak is not easily accessed (It is just beyond the edge of the sloping lawn near the cemetery on Delatour Road.), an observation point was set up on the road leading to the C Wing. Laminated pictures of this tree in all four seasons designated the observation point. Even if you can’t walk to all the sacred spaces, you are invited to find this grand tree and reflect on its history and ours. “Our” swamp white oak was soon listed with the American Forests National Register of Historic Trees.

Sometime in 2005, this historic tree was found to have split in the middle, with the giant halves falling in opposite directions. Many people were greatly saddened by the demise of such a symbolic creation, wanting it to live on in some form. (See “Reflections on the Oak.”)

Wood was offered to sister artists for their use in any creative work. Negotiations took place for some of the wood to be used in the re-creation of an historic ship, the ONRUST. (See “Onrust.”)

The Swamp White Oak lives on in our hearts as it recalls our heritage as Sisters of St. Joseph and as caretakers of the Earth.

Learn more about Swamp White Oaks