Photos by Angelica Ramos
Angelica Ramos
Contributing Writer
BLACKSBURG- Historic Smithfield dedicated a bench made from the wood of the historic Merry Oak tree this weekend during their 250th Commemoration event.
The Merry Oak tree was a white oak tree at Historic Smithfield that was estimated to be over 300 years old. In its time, it served as a gathering place for the enslaved people of Smithfield. In May of 2020, a storm came into the area and cracked the Merry Oak causing it to split and topple.
The Merry Oak’s story began long ago, before the storm. Dr. Kerri Mosley-Hobbs, a direct descendant of Thomas Fraction, a formerly enslaved person of Historic Smithfield, explained the Merry Oak was more than just a tree. Mosley-Hobbs, who is also the vice-chair of the Smithfield board of directors, said the Merry Oak is where the enslaved people would gather, worship, hold meetings, host weddings, mourn and connect during their time of enslavement and, hundreds of years after, it was where the descendants of those people came to connect with their ancestors. The tree thrived for hundreds of years but when Mosley-Hobbs found she was descended from people who were enslaved at Smithfield, she came to visit. She saw the tree and felt drawn to it. She explained that when she first went up to the tree and placed her hand upon it, it was as though the tree had been waiting for her and the other descendants of the Fractions (the last name given to the enslaved), because it started to die shortly after. Other descendants as they were found also came to the Merry Oak, and it continued to rapidly decline. With the decline came the storm which toppled this beloved site.
With that in mind, Historic Smithfield, Virginia Tech, with their Chief Arborist and project manager Jamie King, Bill St. Pierre who milled the wood, and Fraction descendants worked tirelessly over the years to save the remnants of the tree. The stump still stands surrounded by a fence that was erected before the death of the tree, to protect it. The rest of the tree was dried and made into the bench that was dedicated on July 27, 2024.
The Merry Oak bench sits in the parking lot of Historic Smithfield, facing the direction of what is left of the Merry Oak tree. The dedication had speeches from Smithfield Executive Director Michael Hudson and Mosley-Hobbs along with a reading of the plaque on which a poem was written, by Fraction Family, remembering the Merry Oak and all it meant.
