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Vanderbilt Arboretum

History: The School of Nursing’s southern red oak

School of Nursing southern red oak in four seasons

Southern red oak 2-123 in four seasons as seen from the walkway in front of MRB III. Clockwise from upper left: winter (10 February 2006), spring (24 March 2006), summer (16 August 2006), fall (11 November 2006). Photos by Steve Baskauf under a CC-BY license.

Standing proudly in front of the School of Nursing’s Godchaux Hall, this southern red oak tree has become a favorite of the nursing students who pass by it on their way to class.

Southern red oak on the cover of The Micron
Front cover of “The Micron”, a student publication of the Vanderbilt School of Nursing from 1925-29 showing the southern red oak

This photo from the front entrance of the school shows that the sidewalk was actually built around the tree! That may be part of the reason why it became famous and was preserved when other trees in the area were not.

Comparison of southern red oak 2-123 c.1928 and 2015
Comparison of southern red oak 2-123 c.1928 and 2015

The tree has been shedding its leaves every fall since the early days of the Nursing School and is one of the largest trees on campus at 32m (105 ft) tall.

Rockefeller Foundation program participants under nursing oak, 1946
Dean Helen Zeigler and participants in a Rockefeller Foundation program pose under the southern red oak in front of the Vanderbilt University Nursing School in June 1946. Photo credit: Mary Lou Donaldson Photograph Collection, Eskind Biomedical Library Special Collections. Anonymous, “Rockefeller Foundation Nursing Fellows, 1946,” VUMC Through Time, accessed October 28, 2015, https://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/throughtime/items/show/11652

The big oak is greatly beloved by all of the faculty and staff of the school. Nursing School Senior Associate Dean Becky Keck related this story in 2015: “Last spring one of the small trees next to the oak fell down due to storm damage and had to be removed. When the chain saw started, I think the entire building emptied out to make sure nothing was happening to the big oak.” During a major expansion to the school in 2018, the tree was “off limits” to protect it from construction damage. Hopefully this tree will be an important part of the life of the school for many years to come.

To read more about this tree, see this blog post.

Return to the historical tree tour page for southern red oak 2-481.