This Florida tree stump is even older than Jesus. Here is his tragic story

LONGWOOD, Fla. – There was once a tree in Seminole County that was over 3,500 years old. But you won’t find it anymore – at least not like you used to.

The tree – which was named “The Senator” in 1927 after a state legislator donated the land on which it stands – was found at Big Tree Park in Longwood until 2012.

At about 120 feet tall, it was considered the largest and oldest bald cypress tree in the world. To put that into perspective, that’s even more than three standard school buses stacked together.

According to the county, it has historically been used as a landmark by Native Americans and has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. It used to be 165 feet tall, but its upper segment was destroyed in 1925 after a hurricane swept through the region.

Researchers determined the senator was about 3,500 years old after drilling a hole in the tree and counting the rings on its trunk. This made the senator possibly the fifth oldest tree in the world.

The senator remained at Big Tree Park for decades and oversaw the park’s continued development over the years.

However, that changed in 2012.

On January 16 of that year, The Senator was reduced to a tree stump after a fire.

More than a dozen firefighters arrived at the scene that morning and laid about 300 meters of hose to reach the huge tree. According to the fire department at the time, the senator was burned out from the inside.

While investigators initially believed the fire was not intentionally set, investigators later concluded it was arson.

Investigators said a Winter Park woman, Sara Barnes, went to the park with a friend that morning, jumped the fence surrounding the senator and entered a hollowed-out portion of the tree.

After picking up some dead leaves and other plant debris, Barnes started a small fire inside the senator so she and her friend could see better. However, according to court documents, the fire quickly got out of control.

Barnes then fled to a nearby fast food restaurant, where she watched as firefighters arrived to put out the fire.

According to those records, Barnes was taken into custody more than a month later and told investigators that she regretted her actions and did not expect the fire to grow as large as it did.

At the time of her arrest, investigators also said they believed Barnes was dealing illegal substances. Barnes was eventually found guilty of burning public land and possession of methamphetamine.

A year after the fire, small branches of The Senator were distributed free to the public. Much of the preserved wood was donated to four artists who were selected to create works of art commemorating the senator.

“I thought, ‘There has to be a way to memorialize this icon.’ This 3,500-year-old tree meant so much to the community and people,” said then-Natural Lands Manager Jim Duby. “We couldn’t just leave the wood there and rot.”

Despite the loss, the Senator’s sister tree, “Lady Liberty,” still stands undamaged in the park fire. While not as experienced as the Senator, she is still around 2,000 years old and nearly 90 feet tall.

However, the senator’s legacy remains. A high school teacher named Laymond Hardy was fascinated by cypress trees, so he worked with other researchers to create an orchard.

As part of the project, he collected branches of The Senator in the mid-1990s to grow a clone.

After the senator burned, this clone — a 50-foot-tall tree aptly named “The Phoenix” — was planted in the park in 2013.

The phoenix can still be seen near the park entrance, planted right next to the playground and parking lot.

If you would like to visit the park, the boardwalk leading to the senator’s remains is still open to the public.

Along the way, visitors can stop by plaques that display the senator’s age at certain distances. The final panel is about 160 feet deep and shows how tall the senator was at 3,500 years old.

Interested in more strange stories about Central Florida history? Click here.

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