This exhibit helps illustrate how we tell the age of a tree. This tree section was donated by Veterans Landscaping, a River Hills landscaping company.

Paul Worsfold came up with the idea and the created the timeline that is written on it. He asked an expert from the University of Florida to come out and estimate its age. There are several ways to determine how old a tree is. You can count the number of rings or measure its diameter. This is a Live Oak tree and is believed to be about 65 years old when it was taken down due to a fungal disease. You can see this diseased area at the bottom of the exhibit.

Note how some years the rings are spread out and others are close together. There are several reasons why this occurs, and one could be years in which there was a drought and thus less rain for growth.

Trees grow at different rates as well. A different tree with this diameter could be hundreds of years old. Imagine all the historical events that have happened since this little acorn started to grow in the ground around 1955! River Hills was not even a neighborhood yet as it started in 1977.

This exhibit and all the amenities of the Trail system is maintained by volunteers. Students can receive Bright Future Service hours for helping. Follow Trail Events and contact the Trail leaders at the TRAILS OF RIVER HILLS Facebook page. Special thank to Trail Artisan Amanda Seeley for creating this exhibit.