The tree, which marks where the Father of Flagler County once lived, has a handful of supporters hoping to change its fate.

A similar fight is happening in Putnam County, where the future of a 150-year-old tree, known as the Maltby Oak that many say is the center of the community, is threatened.

And while there are no current fights in Volusia County, there have been a few in the past, including one about the Volusia Oak that's mixed in folklore.

From Volusia to Putnam County, community leaders and residents are coming out and shouting that sometimes a tree is more than a tree and needs to be saved.

"Throughout American history, our trees have been very important," said Sam Deputy, a member of the Putnam County Historical Society. "It's the center of stability, of growth."

In Flagler County, residents fear that plans to develop a 3-acre property off Briarwood Path in Bunnell would destroy several centuries-old oak trees. They say while they can't and don't want to save all the trees, they would like to save the superior ones, especially the largest tree -- a magnificent live oak whose branches stretch out like fingers touching the ground and covering almost 1/4 acre.

Paul Fell, a member of the Flagler County Historical Society, said the tree's circumference measures 18 feet, 6 inches, and it's believed to be somewhere between 200 to 400 years old.

He and others said the size of a proposed office complex on the 3-acre parcel is too large and too close to the live oak. Fell said having the buildings so close would destroy the tree's roots and lead to its slow death.

"It's one of the largest oaks in this county," Fell said. "It's just so majestic and graceful. I would just hate to see it die."

He added there are several historic reasons to make sure the live oak goes on living. It could serve as a landmark for where I.I. Moody, the man people called the Father of Flagler County, once had his house, and it fronts what was once the Old Brick Road, built in the early 1900s.

It's also where the county's popular Cracker Day events began said Diane Marquis, president of the historical society.

She also has a personal reason for wanting to preserve the tree. In addition to building his home in 1916, Moody built a house for his brother Robert across from him on the same property.

For 19 years Marquis and her family called Robert's house their home, and the oak tree once held a treehouse for her two boys. To this day, worn wood steps are still attached to its trunk.

"Many, many an old-timer . . . has talked about playing in that tree," Marquis said. "My boys both grew up playing in that tree. Their friends grew up playing in that tree. It has a lot of fond memories."

She added that Moody chose that piece of property because of the oak trees.

"He wanted higher property and oak trees are a sign of higher property," she said.

Like Fell, she is hoping they can come to an agreement with developer Fred Lewers. Lewers said he is willing to listen to residents, but will have to cut down some trees.

"It's a business proposition, but at the same time, if we can save some of the trees, that would be great too," he said. "We are just looking to see what is the best thing we can do to make it work."

Chuck Lippi, a St. Augustine arborist who has worked in all three counties, said it may be possible for Lewers to build close to the tree, but it would involve a bit of expense. One possibility he mentioned was raising the buildings a few feet off the ground so they wouldn't touch the tree's roots.

He added the developer could also reduce the footprint and make a smaller, but taller building.

"There are ways to do it. Everybody likes to save trees," Lippi said. "The thing that worries me is that trees don't react like people when they are injured, so contractors come and damage the root system. Everything looks fine, and they go away, but within a year the tree starts to decline. To me, saving a tree means prolonging its life to its normal life span."

Lippi also is involved in an effort to save the Maltby Oak in Palatka. The oak is named for Hubert Maltby, a former county extension agent and a founder of the county fair. Unlike the oak in Flagler County, the Maltby Oak has a thinning canopy, rotting trunk and decrepit limbs. The battered 150-year old tree beside the Putnam County Courthouse has seen better days.

Lippi said putting fill dirt around its trunk started the decline of the oak nearly 20 years ago. Combined with a few other stresses, it lost leaves and, choked by Spanish moss, its sprawling branches weakened. Until recently, metal crutches supported its branches.

The decay reached a stage at which Putnam County commissioners felt the tree posed a liability. They feared that if they didn't cut it down, someone would get hurt.

Residents and members of the Putnam County Historical Society fought the plan, saying for more than a century the tree had been the center of the town overseeing festivals, weddings and political rallies, and no matter what, it should be saved.

"It's our icon," Deputy said. "You can say 'meet me at the Maltby' and they knew where to go. We look at it as being a person, and it represents a family. So much has happened under it."

Between Lippi volunteering his services to try and bring the tree back to its former glory and the persuasive arguments of the Maltby supporters, the tree got a stay of execution last month.

Lippi said the restoration could take years, but he is hopeful. Otherwise Putnam County loses a great landmark, he said.

"It has problems, like most old things do, but I think the prognosis is good," Lippi said. "If not, we are back to where they will take it down."

Volusia County is another area well-known for preserving historic trees from the Fairchild Oak -- a 68-foot-tall sprawling giant in Bulow Creek State Park north of Ormond Beach to the Volusia Oak, just east of the St. Johns River bridge beside State Road 40.

The Volusia Oak is also known as the Dillard Oak and the Bartram Oak, and with a big gnarled trunk and a domed canopy, its age is anywhere from 200 to 600 years old.

According to local folklore, Barney Dillard, who operated a steamboat-era general store near the oak, saved its life before World War II. Legend has it that government road builders wanted to cut the tree and straighten the bridge approach, but they were met by six Dillards with shotguns. The workers left, never to return, so the story goes.

Lippi said it's always good when residents come out to protect trees.