Emancipation Oak

As I always say, every oak tree has a story to tell.  It's just that in some cases we happen to know the story, and in others we don't.

Building material. Fuel source. Food source.  These are the things we know and expect - and take for granted - from oak trees.

Add another one:  Impromptu class room for the children of former slaves.  And:  "In 1863, the Virginia Peninsula's black community gathered under this tree to hear the first Southern reading of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation."  The Proclamation of course did not have the force of law at that moment, since it only applied to the secessionist states over which Lincoln currently had no authority, but one can image the thrill and sense of hope and longing that prevailed in the shade of this tree on that day.