I grew up in Coastal Georgia and developed an appreciation for our massive live oak trees.

When I bought my first property for development in South Bryan County that fronted the salt marsh and waterway leading to the Intracoastal, I walked the property with my engineer before we started construction. When we approached the area where the new road was to be built that would go back to the waterfront lots, I began noticing survey stakes that would take the road right through the middle of a stand of ancient live oak trees. I asked my engineer why he designed the road to pass through the trees, necessitating their removal. He replied that it was just too expensive to move roads for trees – and besides, we have plenty of other trees that wouldn’t be touched on the home sites.

I protested and asked how much it would cost to move the road? He stammered and scratched the dirt with his boot. I said, “Would it cost $20,000?” He replied, “No, not that much.” I continued and asked if it would cost $10,000 to move the road. “No,” he said, “not that much.” “What WILL it cost then?” “About $5,000,” he replied. “MOVE THE ROAD!” I said.

On many of the old growth live oaks, I noticed a deep scar running around the trees about three feet off the ground. I inquired about the origin of the scar and learned that when the timber companies began to plant pines for lumber in coastal Georgia in the early 1900s, they would cut a ring around the base of the old trees and place a poison in the open wound in an attempt to kill the live oaks. By doing so, they hoped to remove the canopy provided by the live oaks that shaded the tiny pine seedlings they were planting.

At that point, I began to develop the Live Oak Legacy for this community, known as Marsh Harbour. We not only saved that stand of live oaks, we sought to save every possible live oak in the community and to require that each homeowner plant two live oaks as part of their overall landscape plan. Our Live Oak Legacy took root and the effects are evident today, only 12 years hence. Fifty years from now the community will look and feel more like it did at the turn of the 20th century.

-- Lamar Smith