While efforts to make Alamo Plaza a more solemn experience for those visiting the site of the 1836 battle ramp up, inside the gates of the Alamo, serenity can be found in many places.

On a recent Monday morning, visitors wandered near the Long Barrack gazing at the giant live oak tree that sprawls across the courtyard. With its new UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, such crowds are expected to continue to grow to learn local history.

“This must have been here,” said a middle-aged man as he approached a sign about the history of the massive tree recently. He read the text aloud to some companions, surprised to learn that the tree was transplanted here in about 1912 when it was already about 40 years old.

People who work at the Alamo hear that a lot — visitors wondering aloud if the grand specimen with branches so long that they dip down to the ground was here for the Battle of the Alamo.

“A lot of people speculate about how old it is and whether or not it was there,” said Amelia White, program development specialist at the Alamo.

Its girth might make you assume it was. The tree’s circumference (usually measured at about chest height) was already 12 feet when it was just a century old. An Alamo employee said the base of the tree is roughly 14 feet, 2 inches now, but noted that’s close — not a true measurement.

Back to Gallery Giant transplanted live oak still thrives on Alamo grounds 13 1 of 13 Photo: Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-News 2 of 13 Photo: Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-News 3 of 13 Photo: Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-News 4 of 13 Photo: Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-News 5 of 13 Photo: Courtesy DRT Library 6 of 13 Photo: Courtesy DRT Library 7 of 13 Photo: Courtesy DRT Library 8 of 13 Photo: Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-News 9 of 13 Photo: Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-News 10 of 13 Photo: Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-News 11 of 13 Photo: Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-News 12 of 13 Photo: William Luther /San Antonio Express-News 13 of 13 Photo: Express-News file photo

























“This is an ‘I’m going to grow forever tree,” said one recent visitor, admiring the tree’s massive limbs that had grown over a metal pole supporting a large branch reaching toward the Alamo chapel. A couple of big potted plants on the sidewalk force visitors to walk around a big low-hanging branch.

As one visitor points out the long limbs draping all the way down to the ground, a couple walked up with a phone on a selfie stick and snapped a shot of themselves in front of the tree — presumably capturing some of its grandeur — and moved along.

Bella the Alamo cat entered from the gates closest to the chapel and watched birds flutter around on branches resting on the ground among lush flowering plants. She just watched, too mellow to give chase. Then a chattering squirrel high up in the tree got her attention and the calico cat climbed up into the center of the live oak, lingering on a branch about 15 feet off the ground for admiring tourists to snap a few photos. She soon seemed bored with the squirrel and sauntered off.

Measurements of some of those limbs ranged from 37.5 feet long on one side of the tree to almost 50 feet on the other. The tree is still growing and producing acorns, and requires occasional trimming, said White.

A small sign facing the courtyard gate credits Walter Whall, a retired English seaman, with moving the live oak to this spot in 1912 when many San Antonio residents thought it was impossible to transplant full-grown trees. He started the city’s first tree moving company.

“He carefully removed the earth from around the roots of the tree to be moved and then used a block and tackle to lift it out of the ground. They transported the mature trees through the streets on a wagon pulled by four mules. Whall contended that the hardest part of moving the big tree was avoiding power and telegraph lines,” said the written history.

A small stone marker says the majestic oak is dedicated to the heroes of the Alamo.

A 1914 story in the San Antonio Light about the planting of the tree said it was presented to the “Daughters of the Republic” to assist in the Alamo beautification and added “materially to the looks of the place.” It said the tree was brought in from 12 miles away along Blanco Road, taking four days.

White said the Alamo grounds are still being transformed. Native plants are replacing some non-native species, especially on the back lawn. That’s where the Alamo’s oldest tree can be found — a pecan tree that is estimated to be around 170-175 years old. That is quite a bit older than the estimated age of the transplanted oak, about 143 years. But that puts both trees shy of the age — 179 years — that would have made them old enough to be around for the historic battle here.

White said she remembers catching an episode of “Life After People” on the History Channel that mentioned the Alamo and its trees. It originally aired in 2009. A summary of the season one, episode nine installment called “Roads to Nowhere,” with the “what-if” assumption that humanity no longer existed imagines the Alamo being overtaken by “new invaders.” You’ll be thankful for both humans and horticulturalists with pruning gear when you learn that the “invaders” that destroyed the Alamo walls in this TV show were untrimmed oak tree limbs. Today, those limbs are pruned well before they can damage anything.

The battle for the Alamo still rages on more quietly these days in the halls of government, where many would like to see an Alamo Plaza with an atmosphere of reverence, without the carnival-like presence of unrelated tourist attractions that face the shrine. But for this round, the grand specimen of a live oak — its sprawling canopy looming tall over the top of the Long Barrack and towering beyond the top of the chapel — will be around for it all.

Terry Scott Bertling is new publications and special projects editor at the Express-News and editor of the newspaper’s 150th anniversary history series and book, “San Antonio: Our Story of 150 Years in the Alamo City.”