Address: 277 S Finley St, Athens, GA 30605
On a rainy afternoon in February 2024, while clicking around the map of Athens, Georgia—home of the University of Georgia—I stumbled upon a peculiar pin: “The Tree That Owns Itself.” In a world full of GPS dots that lead to museums or taco joints, this was something else: a legend, maybe even a love letter to impermanence. I decided to go and check it out.
The story, as it goes, began in the 1800s when Colonel William H. Jackson reportedly deeded the tree its own autonomy, along with the eight feet of ground surrounding it. There’s no surviving legal document. Just a legend, first published in 1890, and a collective decision by the people of Athens to believe in the beauty of that story. That choice—to nurture folklore rather than pick it apart—already spoke to the heart of Wabi-Sabi: the art of finding depth in the unfinished, the transient, and the perfectly imperfect.
The original tree eventually fell during a storm in 1942. But from its acorns, a new sapling was planted in its place. Today, it stands quietly at the corner of Dearing and Finley Streets, surrounded by a granite and chain enclosure, lovingly cared for by the community.
When I visited, the air was misty and soft, like the story itself. There was no grand spectacle—just a tree, an ordinary tree with a story. I stood there longer than expected. Maybe it was the quiet. Maybe it was the reminder that something doesn’t have to be flawless to be cherished.
Travel isn’t always about big monuments or bucket lists. Sometimes, it’s about allowing yourself to be moved by something small, strange, and sublime. That’s Wabi-Sabi: the cracked edges, the rain-soaked sidewalk, the way people choose to hold on to stories that have no legal weight but carry immense emotional heft.
So if you ever find yourself in Athens, don’t just go see the tree. Feel the tree. Linger. Let yourself believe in something quietly wonderful.
Peaks to Palaces 