Boyington Oak – Mobile, AL

The great oak tree that sprang  up from the grave of a hanged man still proclaims his innocence. Charles Boyington was hanged for the murder of his best friend Nathaniel Frost on February 20, 1835.

 The two friends reportedly spent countless hours relaxing among the tombstones and witty epitaphs of the Church Street Graveyard. When Frost was found stabbed to death in the very area where the two friends hung out together, everyone assumed they had an argument and that Boyington had stabbed his buddy in a fit of rage.

Boyington mainned his innocence until the end. His last words on the gallows were that a great oak tree would grow from his grave proof of his innocence. He was buried in a corner of the field near the wall in the Church Street Graveyard, about sixty yards from where Frost’s body was found.

Within a few months, a tiny oak sprouted from the center of his grave.  The living monument stands to this day. The sturdy oak has survived many disasters that have claimed other trees in the area. People say they can hear the cries of an innocent man as the breeze rustles through its branches.  

The Boyington Oak tree sits at the edge of a parking area near Bayou Street. To find it, go east from the corner of Government street and Broad Street to South Bayou Street. Go south one block on Bayou Street to a gravel parking lot. The Boyington Oak is the only Live Oak in the area with wooden posts around it.