My Pop called last night and sounded like he had lost his best friend...he went on to tell me that Old Man Grave had fallen right there in the middle of his driveway. Let me give you some background on Old Man Grave - the Oak Tree!!!! This tree is HUGE and is in my Grandfather's front yard. When we were little, Mom told us that we had to "feed" Old Man Grave. Let me tell you that this tree is a little scary if you think about it...it had a MOUTH!!!!! No kidding, this tree had a huge knot on it that very closely resembled a huge old man nose and under that was a big hole in the trunk right on the ground that looked like "his" mouth. Mom told us that to keep Old Man Grave happy, we had to feed him rocks or seeds...whatever we found in the yard. No need to call DFACS...we seem to be OK :) I never really knew the "whole" story of Old Man Grave until today's visit with Pop. This tree was planted sometime around the time the house was built some 170 years ago to line the drive coming up to the "plantation". Pop told me today that when he was much younger (in 1941 to be exact) and lived in the house across the street from where he is now, he and his mother watched as all the other trees that lined the drive fell in the middle of a hurricane...Old Man Grave was the only one to survive - WOW!!! So then I asked him how he got his name...I was too scared to ask when I was young - too busy feeding that old tree his rock, I guess. Pop said (and Mom is in Disney World so she can defend herself later) that when she and her brothers and sister were younger that she scared them all into thinking that if they didn't "feed" this old "ghost" of a tree that it would come back and get them. Needless to say that from that time on, we ALL fed Old Man Grave. It started with Mom, Olin, Annette and Layton "feeding" this old tree and then moved down to our generation...MAN - are we scared of Claire or what???? When the tree fell, there was a rather large magnolia growing up the middle of the hollowed out center - no doubt where magnolia pods had been "feed" to him many years ago. Anyway, long story - but I think that we will all miss Old Man Grave and I certainly hate that the next generation will not get the chance to learn the scary story of how you MUST feed him as often as possible!!!!!
Goodbye to a dear family "friend"...
Pop with Old Man Grave
John McLean playing in the yard at the Old House
John McLean near where the "mouth" was...you can see the knot of a nose over his head
Papa and John McLean surveying the damage
Poor Old Man Grave
John McLean playing in the yard at the Old House
John McLean near where the "mouth" was...you can see the knot of a nose over his head
Papa and John McLean surveying the damage
Poor Old Man Grave
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