My parents both grew up around the Charleston area. They got married there, and lived there for several years. Then, for reasons I will never fully understand, decided to move away before my sister and I were born. (We’re still South Carolina natives, we just don’t have the privilege of being Charleston natives.)
I love the Charleston area, and have for as long as I can remember. Though we very rarely went there, my parents talked about it a lot. Hubby and I vacation there more than anywhere else. Every time we’ve gone my mom has said we should see the Angel Oak while we’re there. We always meant to, but somehow never got around to it. Until last year.
We finally drove out to Johns Island in November of last year to see the Angel Oak. I’m not really sure what I was expecting. I’d heard my parents talk about it for years. I’d looked it up online; I knew it was supposed to be a huge, beautiful old oak tree.
I wasn’t prepared for how enormous or how breathtakingly beautiful it was. Angel Oak is basically in a state park, down a little dirt road next to an old church. Your expectations aren’t raised as you get closer. But then, it’s magic.
The size and beauty of the tree take your breath away, and it just fees like a magical place.
All of the numbers about the biggest branch, how much area it shades, how old it is, go right out of your head. You walk under the canopy of the tree, and you feel like you’re in a different world.
So what about you? Have you been to see the Angel Oak? Did you think it was magical?
