That’s not hard to find. We cycle further, from the editorial office in Assen to Roden, and indeed, past Lieveren, near the lookout tower on the Mensingheweg, there is a mighty old oak tree. If you know where to look, it’s impossible to miss.
An attempt to measure the tree itself comes to nothing, my measuring tape is one and a half meters long and does not come close to getting around the robust tree trunk. Fortunately, forest ranger Tessa also knows the ins and outs here: “This tree is reportedly more than 300 years old and has a circumference of over five meters. The thickest branches of this tree are as thick as the oaks next to it, and they are about 130 years old.”
It is special that such an old oak tree is still standing proudly in Drenthe. “In the 1990s there were major caterpillar plagues in the oaks, the caterpillar of the winter butterfly ate everything. All oaks suffered greatly from this, but not the Dikke Boom.”
How does that happen? “This may have to do with the DNA of the tree. After the Ice Age, the oaks migrated back to this region, and there is talk of a Spanish and an Italian migration line. The Dikke Boom probably belongs to the Spanish migration line, which could have caused We can’t really prove that it was more resistant to these caterpillar plagues.”
The age of the Dikke Boom gives food for thought. “Just think about what this tree has been through in 300 years,” says Weeke. “He has outlived several estate owners, he has outlived the timber sellers and the bark collectors – the squirrel peelers.” If you think about it, this tree was already here at the time of the French Revolution. And, Weeke continues: “The Dikke Boom is still vital enough to last for many years, perhaps centuries.”
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Tags: oldest oak Drenthe experienced French Revolution
