When you are in the presence of The Angel Oak,
you feel as if you are walking on hallowed ground. Everyone is
strangely quiet about engineered oak flooring suppliers. Whispering. In awe. Even the children realize this is
not something you see everyday. They stare wide-eyed waiting for
permission to approach the oldest thing—living or man-made—east of the
Rockies. The Angel Oak is a live oak tree aged
approximately 1,500 years, standing 65 feet high as it’s canopy shades
17,000 square feet of earth. It’s limbs—trees themselves—are so heavy
some rest on the ground, go underground, then raise back up.
One of our team members recently discovered this ancient gem on a
drive to John’s Island outside of Charleston, South Carolina. “The Treeâ€
as it is reverently called in this low-country, has survived countless
hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and human interference, and would have
sprouted some 1000 years before Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New
World.
Which leads us, ever so circumspectly to Lisbon, Portugal, where
Christopher Columbus reunited with his brother in 1479, and where not so
far away in the town of Aguas de Moura in the Alentejo region of
Portugal today stands The Whistler Tree.
This great tree, the worlds oldest and largest cork oak, also magically
captures our reverential respect and awe. Planted in 1783, and 225
years young, it was first harvested of its precious bark in 1820. Shorn
every nine years since, it is the most productive cork oak tree on
record, and is due to be harvested yet again in 2009, as anticipation
and excitement grow
For over 130 years and under the careful protection of Amorim, the manufacturer of Wicanders’ Cork Oak Floors, trees like The Whistler Tree are protected and allowed to grow and mature for as long as nature determines. Amorim is careful to employ their sustainability and biodiversity initiatives
in the cork oak forests, as they cyclically extract and transform
natural raw material from the cork oak trees without ever harming them.
This practice—in respect for the economic, social, and environmental value of their livelihood—is a growing reality that other manufacturers have only now begun to emulate.
Two great trees, one in the new world, one in the old…both survivors,
both magnificent, both a gift of nature. Each simultaneously benefiting
mankind. We hope The Angel Oak lives on for another 1500 years, and The Whistler Tree for another 225. For Team Wicanders, it’s satisfying to know that the green building paradigm sweeping the US will save other oak trees for generations to come.