The Crenshaw Oak
| The Crenshaw Oak |
The Crenshaw Oak was planted in 1918, the year the Institute opened on the old Hartwell estate, as a public sign of restoration. The cut-over slopes above Briarmont had been slipping since the 1890s, silt from them was filling the salmon creeks, and the boat crews landed fewer fish every season.
The Briarmont Improvement Club did the planting. In 1901 Elias Hartwell's office had refused the club a lot for a garden. With Hartwell dead and his estate turned over to a forestry school, the club's members chose the tree and dug the hole themselves. The Hartwell County Courier gave the planting a paragraph on the same page as the Institute's opening.
Out of character. The oak is a common place to set a scene or hold an event. To put an event there, ask staff on Discord.