James Island honors a historic part of its community

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) – The oldest cedar tree in Charleston is expected to receive several awards.

The town of James Island invited its community to Indian Mound Park where the tree sits. The tree council honors it with the tree canopy award and the tree stewardship award. Tree experts estimated that the tree is several centuries old. Although, they don’t have an exact number it is likely the oldest one in the state too.

“It was starting to show its age, and the past president had a tree service out who came over and assessed the tree, trimmed it, fertilized it,” Brook Lyon, mayor of James Island, said. “Since that time we have been very diligent about keeping it trimmed and fertilized, and trying to keep it healthy.”

The Lighthouse Point Civic Club takes care of the tree as well as four, young live oak trees in the park. The mayor expressed that the tree is a staple of the community and that it sometimes holds space for the town’s events.

“Neighborhood children have played on it, climbed it for years,” Lyon said. “One of my neighbor friend’s son nicknamed it ‘Branchy’. It means a lot to a lot of people.”

James Island is also apart of Tree City USA. The tree council joined the program in 2019 alongside the neighboring communities of Summerville and the City of Charleston.

“We value and care about our trees,” Lyon said. “We’re very proud of that and the fact that we award the tree canopy awards fits right into that.”

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