Bacas Oak, West Bank of River Road, Hwy 18 near Edgard

This little known, but magnificent oak is located on Songy Court, on the west bank of the Mississippi River, behind the historic Bacas House which was built around 1840–1850. The property has been in the Bacas family since 1895 when Alcide Bacas purchased it from Willis Becnel. It’s likely that the oak was already mature when the Bacas house was built. The property is today part of the small community of Wallace, just downriver from Edgard, Louisiana.

The oak is approximately 25’ in circumference with a ropy twisting trunk and a huge crown that is nearly 200 feet wide. It has the classic upside-down bowl shape with long drooping limbs that reach to the ground, distinct to a live oak that grows away from competing trees.

This area along the west bank of the Mississippi River is part of the first German settlements along the Mississppi River, called the German Coast.  Wikipedia has a good description of the history of this area.

The Bacas Oak lost a major limb in late 2009, or early 2010. This image was made during the summer of 2010. I had searched for this tree for several years. Having only rough directions to go by, I was unable to locate it because it’s drooping limbs completely hid it’s trunk. From River Road it appeared to be a grove of oaks instead of a single tree. It was only after the tree lost a major limb, revealing almost a third of its interior limbs, that I was able to locate and photograph it. This view is from the south side of the tree, the opposite side from where the limb was lost.