Ancient Cypress Discovered in NC Swamp is Older Than Christianity

BLACK RIVER – When Jesus Christ walked this earth, a Bald Cypress in the Three Sisters Swamp was already more than 500 years old. To be precise, researchers analyzing tree cores in an ancient stand of cypress trees in south eastern North Carolina confirmed that one specimen was 2,624 years old, making it the oldest the oldest documented tree on the eastern seaboard.

From Live Science:

“[…] Researchers discovered the ancient cypress while studying tree rings in an effort to piece together the climate history of the eastern United States. (In addition to marking a tree’s age, the width and color of tree rings indicate how wet or dry a given year was ). Because of previous fieldwork, the team knew that a particular stand of bald cypress trees in the Black River’s Three Sisters Swamp was one of the oldest tree clusters in the country. That earlier research identified several trees between 1,000 and 1,650 years old.

The new study reveals that bald cypresses have even greater longevity than researchers previously thought. In addition to the 2,624-year-old individual reported above, the researchers found a 2,088-year-old cypress in the same swamp — and there are likely more where that came from. […]”

Read more about this ancient stand of trees that call the Old North State home here.

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