Charter Oak

a fine old oak tree at Hartford, Connecticut. It was over six feet in diameter at the time of its destruction by a storm, August 21, 1856. This oak is one of the historic trees of America. Connecticut was an independent colony governed by its own assembly, elected in accordance with a charter granted by the king of England in 1662. In 1686 Sir Edmund Andros was sent over to govern the New England colonies. In October of the following year he visited Hartford and called on the assembly to surrender its charter. The story runs that the debate was prolonged until late, when the lights were extinguished and a Captain Wadsworth took the charter from the table and hid it in a hollow in this oak tree, where it remained until a change of government in England enabled the colony to resume its previous form of government. See Hartford