As I was looking through some of my father Tom Gregory’s articles, I found an interesting account written in 1946 of an Eatonton woman’s extraordinary actions back in 1931 to protect her special tree from the construction plans of the Georgia Highway Department.

Today, as we watch the progress of the widening of Highway 441, I thought everyone might enjoy reading this very interesting account of Eatonton’s “Tree that Owned Itself”.

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“The Tree That Owned Itself”

If Charlie McCarthy, the wooden sidekick of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen can prove that one of his ancestors was an E.U. (Eucommia Ulmoides) tree- more specifically the Putnam County E.U. tree, he may inherit one day a nice tract of land located on the Eatonton-Madison highway.

As much a surprise to local people as possibly to McCarthy, it was revealed this week that a Putnam County tree actually owns itself along with a circle of land 16 feet in diameter. Besides owning itself, the tree has the rights and privileges of passing on at its death these rights to its heirs, which is where Charlie McCarthy comes in, if he can produce the necessary birth certificate. However, he must hurry for the tree is getting old and no one knows just when a terrific case of dry rot or some bark disease might set in.

One of the few trees in the state that owns itself with the ground around it, this particular Eucommia Ulmoides tree was found to have quite a history besides having a deed legally recorded in Book “M” page 520 in the county clerk’s office.

“…beginning at a rock eight feet from the base of said Eucommia Ulmoides tree, located on the west side of the Dixie Highway eighty-one feet south of the lane on the southern side of my residence extending eight feet on all four sides of said tree, the outside boundary of which is indicated by four rocks sunk in the ground, making a circle of ground around the tree about sixteen feet in diameter…”

In fact, it was a pain in the neck to the State Highway department back in the early 1930’s when it was surveying the road between Eatonton and Madison. The feud ended with the aristocratic E. U. tree as the victor and there today is the big concrete highway zigging to the right instead of zagging to the left all because of an old E. U. tree.

It seems that had the tree been an ordinary citizen of the state, the whole matter would have been quite simple. The highway department could have simply forced a sale and run the highway as planned, but that tree, well that was different. Whoever heard of issuing court orders to a tree? The lawyers said it couldn’t be done, especially the lawyers who were friends of Mrs. Susan E. Jones who had deeded this land to the old E. U. tree. Midnight oil was burned and law books were scanned without success. No one could think of a way to force the tree to sell itself and the grounds around it for a highway. Hence, the highway survey was changed and old Eucommia Ulmoides tree remained undisturbed.

by

Tom A. Gregory

Owner & Editor,

The Eatonton Messenger