A very special white oak once grew in Connecticut. More than twenty-five years old in 1662, it would become famous as the Charter Oak in another twenty-five years.
Governor John Winthrop, Jr. crossed the Atlantic Ocean on an important mission. He asked England’s King Charles II for a Royal Charter. The King agreed and presented the Charter to the General Court of Connecticut—which was then a colony—on October 9, 1662. This granted Connecticut residents the unique right “to have and to hold...for ever” this place “in Newe England.”
But the throne was later inherited by King James II, who wanted the charter back. Various plans to get the charter back failed.
An Oak Mystery
When the candles were relit, the Charter was gone!
Captain Joseph Wadsworth is credited with whisking it to safety. He hid it in a majestic oak on the Wyllys estate.
The Wye Oak is commemorated on a Connecticut quarter issued by the U.S. MintThe Charter Oak was more than half a century old when it hid the Charter in 1687. On August 21, 1856, the patriarch fell during a great storm. However, the Connecticut Charter remains in Hartford, Connecticut.
On April 16, 1947, the white oak was adopted as Connecticut’s state tree.
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