05/21/2026
One of my favorites 🦋
One of Florida’s most stunning and historic trees, the “Treaty Oak” is said to the oldest living thing in Jacksonville! This giant Southern live oak has been growing for more than 250 years and stands in Jessie Ball duPont Park on the Southbank side of downtown. Its size alone makes it unforgettable, rising about 70 feet tall with huge, twisting limbs that spread out into a canopy roughly 190 feet wide.
The tree was once known simply as the Giant Oak, and it nearly disappeared in the 1930s when nearby development threatened the land around it. That’s when Florida Times-Union writer Pat Moran helped give the tree its lasting name. He wrote a made-up story claiming Native Floridians and early European settlers had signed a treaty beneath its branches, and the “Treaty Oak” name stuck. The effort helped bring attention to the tree and save it. The park land was later protected with help from Jessie Ball duPont, and a major preservation project in 1995 added support cables and lightning protection to help keep the old oak standing for future generations.
