Deerhead Oak rooted deeply in community

MCCLELLANVILLE — Even among the live oak limbs draping this little coastal town, the huge crowns of live oaks in front yards and the live oak allee, the tree that makes townspeople swoon is Deerhead Oak.

"This," Gabe Purvis says with a proud pat on the huge sway-backed trunk, "is our pride and joy."

The centuries-old tree isn't the most gargantuan of the oaks that provide a canopy to McClellanville. In all the leaves and almost human-figured trunks, it might not even catch the eye of a person passing through. Puzzled visitor after visitor peers, then asks, where exactly is the deer head?

But from this tree spread the roots of this place. At the close of the Civil War, a Confederate soldier who had been stationed in McClellanville, William Peter Beckman, opened a store in its shade. The town grew from his door. The oak has never quit growing.

The circumference at its bole — 30.6 feet — is bigger-bellied than the massive Angel Oak on Johns Island. The Deerhead is taller than that landmark. The girth of its largest limb is thicker.

The Deerhead is a town symbol and the heart and soul of a community, so much so that when a newly formed tree committee took over its care in 1999, the members wouldn't dare remove the tire and rope that generations have swung on. That's not what a tree committee would be expected to do, Chairman David Stoney admits. But he shrugs, "It's grandfathered in."

Today, the grand old tree gets another loving pat on its bark. The town dedicates a plaque on the grounds at its base, at the intersection of Pinckney and Oak streets. It was named the Heritage Tree of the Year at the end of 2007 by the S.C. Urban and Community Forestry Council for its cultural significance.

"It has its name," said Walter Bonner, a town historian who, like Purvis and Stoney, is a tree committee member. "It's not just a nice-looking oak tree. It has its personality, so to speak."

So that, umm, brings up a question. Just where is that deer head that long ago gave this tree its name? Viewed from Oak Street, about head-high on the trunk, a gnarly bulge sticks out like a snout, sort of. On either side are bulges that could appear to be a deer's eyes. Above them the rising branches, Stoney and Purvis point out, are antlers.

Go on, squint a little. You're looking well back in time.

Reach Bo Petersen at 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.