According to Virginia Tech’s Big Tree Project database, the Compton oak in Merchant Square measures at least 70 feet tall, with a circumference of at least 14 feet, and is believed to be the biggest nationally of its kind.
Williamsburg’s Landscape Superintendent Will Fidler believes there are at least 23 state-champion trees on the property belonging to Colonial Williamsburg and the College.
The city council and landscaping division intend to find and log all the state-champion trees located in the Williamsburg area for preservation purposes.
“It’s important that we keep these trees there for people in the future,” Fidler said. “The idea isn’t just to keep them alive — we’re bound to lose one or two in coming years — but to make sure we replant them so they will be there for the future.”
