Firefighters Rescue 1,000-Year-Old Tree From Drought

The Big Tree, with its huge, sprawling branches, is believed to have first sprouted over a millennia ago, making it quite possibly the oldest and largest tree in Texas -- and its history is equally as remarkable. The oak's location, a stones throw from the Gulf coast, exposed it to countless storms over the centuries, and at least one unnatural disaster, too. During one battle of the Civil War, the town around the Big Oak was almost completely destroyed; the tree was among the few things left standing.