Like losing an old friend…Lick Fork oak has split

For Dennis Cox of rural Daviess County losing the huge oak located on the grounds of the Lick Fork Church southeast of Gallatin, is like losing an old friend.
The mighty oak has stood guard over the church and cemetery for hundreds of years and probably saw the county’s first pioneers.
The trunk of the tree has split, nearly halving the tree in two. Dennis asked some experts about possibly applying a band to draw the tree together. But he was told it was unfeasable.
At one time, Dennis measured the tree trunk, thinking it might be the largest in Missouri.
It was only slightly less in circumference than the McBaine Burr Oak. That huge burr oak tree is tied with another in Kentucky for the title of the national champion (largest) of the specie, Quercus macrocarpa. The tree is located south of Columbia. The tree’s trunk, with an impressive 287-inch circumference, is approximately 90 feet tall with a 130-foot spread.
Methuselah, a bristlecone pine tree from California’s White Mountains, is thought to be almost 5,000 years old—and the oldest non-clonal tree in the world.