Qualla: The Senator (Tree) https://qualla.com/the-senator-tree en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/5/the-senator-tree-wp/longwood-senator-park-big02.jpg Qualla: The Senator (Tree) https://qualla.com/the-senator-tree The Senator (Tree): Introduction https://qualla.com/the-senator-tree/ Photo credit Chasrob, CC BY-SA 4.0. It stood before the pyramids were built. When Phoenician traders first sailed the Mediterranean, when Homer composed the Iliad, when Rome was still a cluster of huts on the Tiber, a bald cypress in what is now Seminole County, Florida, was already centuries old. The Senator, as the tree came to be called, grew in a swamp near present-day Longwood for roughly 3,500 years, reaching 165 feet and becoming the largest bald cypress in the United States. Then, on the morning of January 16, 2012, it was gone. The cause was not a hurricane, not disease, not a chainsaw. A woman had crawled inside the hollow trunk to smoke methamphetamine and lit a fire for light. The Senator burned from the inside out, collapsing like a chimney in front of arriving firefighters.

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Image: Chasrob | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/5/the-senator-tree-wp/djn5-the-senator-tree-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Senator (Tree): Millennia in the Swamp https://qualla.com/the-senator-tree/ Photo credit Ebyabe stitched by Marku1988  This image was created with Hugin., CC BY-SA 3.0. The Senator grew in the wetlands of central Florida's lake country, its massive buttressed trunk anchored in saturated soil. As of 1993, arborists estimated the tree at approximately 3,500 years old, making it the oldest known bald cypress on Earth and the twelfth oldest tree of ...

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Image: Ebyabe stitched by Marku1988  This image was created with Hugin. | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/5/the-senator-tree-wp/djn5-the-senator-tree-millennia-in-the-swamp.mp3 0:06 2 full The Senator (Tree): Lady Liberty Next Door https://qualla.com/the-senator-tree/ Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Senator did not stand alone. A short walk away in the same park grew another ancient bald cypress known as Lady Liberty, designated the Senator's companion tree. Estimated at roughly 2,000 years old, Lady Liberty is itself one of the oldest trees in the world. Smaller than th...

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Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/5/the-senator-tree-wp/djn5-the-senator-tree-lady-liberty-next-door.mp3 0:06 3 full The Senator (Tree): Seventy-Two Seconds https://qualla.com/the-senator-tree/ Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. On January 16, 2012, a passerby noticed flames shooting from the top of the Senator. Firefighters from Seminole County arrived quickly but found the massive trunk already engulfed, burning from the inside like an enormous chimney. The tree collapsed within minutes. What 3,500 yea...

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Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/5/the-senator-tree-wp/djn5-the-senator-tree-seventy-two-seconds.mp3 0:06 4 full The Senator (Tree): The Phoenix Rises https://qualla.com/the-senator-tree/ Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. What remained of the Senator after the fire was a charred stump standing only a fraction of its former height. But the story did not end there. Seminole County closed Big Tree Park for nearly a year while officials considered how to memorialize the loss. In October 2013, a select...

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Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/5/the-senator-tree-wp/djn5-the-senator-tree-the-phoenix-rises.mp3 0:06 5 full