Showing 7 results

Archival description
William Schroeder Photograph Collection Chortitza (Chortitza, Russia)
Print preview View:

7 results with digital objects Show results with digital objects

The big old oak

This photo is a combination of three photos pieced together by photographer Bill Schroeder on one of his trips/tours of the Ukraine. A road is in the foreground and a low fence surrounds the oak tree. Inside the fence is a few boulders and grass. Behind the grass in the background are smaller trees and a woman a small structure. A modern building can be seen through the trees on the far right in the back. -- Note: this photo is over sized. Bill Schroeder's comments on this picture are:
The famous old oak in the village of Chortitza provided shelter for the first Mennonite immigrants from the Vistula Delta in 1789. The tree is estimated to be about seven hundred years old. It had a height of thirty-six meters (115 feet). The crown had a diameter of forty-three meters (137 feet ), and the trunk had a diameter of about 3.4 meters (about 11 feet). The shape of its leaves was similar through slightly smaller then the leaves of the burr oak common in the prairie states and provinces in North America. Because of its size, great age and unusual shape the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who live in that area till 1774, considered this oak to be sacred. The practice of worshiping an oak tree was a carry-over from per-Christian times (988) when Slavic people worshiped Perun and Svantovit. This magnificent oak served as a natural monument for many years. It was protected by the state and served as a popular tourist attraction. Unfortunately the old oak died during the 1990s. (William Schroeder). See MHC 631.6 for enhanced version.

Schroeder, William, 1933-2013