Once Virginia's biggest tree, an ancient 123-foot champion bald cypress has fallen

By Victoria Bourne

The Virginian-Pilot

Nov 14, 2017 Updated 20 hrs ago

COURTLAND

Recently, an ancient tree fell in the swamp. Whether it made a sound is hard to say, but people definitely noticed. ... That’s because it was Big Mama.

"Big Mama" is the nickname for a onetime state champion bald cypress tree that sits in the Cypress Bridge Swamp Natural Area Preserve in Courtland, about an hour’s drive west from Norfolk.

The tree was 123 feet tall and nearly 36 feet around. Big Mama wasn’t just the biggest of her kind in the state, she was the biggest of any kind, says big tree hunter Byron Carmean, who discovered her in 2005. She lost her title when she died about nine years ago.



Courtesy of the Department of Conservation and Recreation / Gary P. Fleming
Byron Carmean, a local naturalist, stands in front of Big Mama, an ancient and onetime state champion bald cypress tree in the Cypress Bridge Swamp Natural Area Preserve in Courtland. Photo taken Oct. 6, 2005.

Carmean, a local naturalist, said Big Mama was estimated to be at least 1,000 years old, but she could be nearly twice that age. It’s hard to know for sure because she was hollow from top to bottom. “You can’t count rings where there aren’t any,” Carmean said. But the tree “certainly has been there and seen the wind blow for a long time.”
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Hyunsoo Leo Kim | The Virginian-Pilot
Naturists paddle around the biggest ever documented tree in Virginia, "Big Mama," center right. Big Mama is a bald cypress tree 123 feet high. The estimated age is 1,000 to 2,000 years old.