A historic Baton Rouge landmark is gone, courtesy of Hurricane Gustav’s fierce and mighty winds.The Category 1-force winds uprooted the estimated 250-year-old Thomas Boyd oak tree in the formal gardens by the State Capitol.Louis Wolff, horticulture manager for the Office of State Buildings, said the tree is so large they can’t save it, and it will have to be removed.”It’s a great loss to the gardens because it was the jewel of the gardens,” Wolff said. “All these brides would come here and take pictures in front of it.”Wolff added that after the storm was gone and the tree was down, a bride had her picture taken in front of the tree.Wolff said a cross-section of the oak tree will be taken and put on display at the Capitol.In terms of the tree’s actual age, Wolff said it won’t be verified until the cross-section is cut off and the tree’s rings can be counted, a process that takes two to three weeks.He said they are estimating the tree’s age to be 250 years old from articles found in an “American Forester” magazine years ago.”We will plant another live oak in its place either through donations or going out and purchasing one,” Wolff said.Wolff said they lost many other trees in the gardens as well and will have to go through and plant new ones.He said he hopes they can get some reimbursement from FEMA to plant new trees in the ground.—-Contact Louis Pelletteri III at [email protected] Thomas Boyd oak was not always the only large oak tree in the gardens.The Annie Boyd and Nicholson oak trees shared residence with the Thomas Boyd oak tree and were roughly the same age.The Annie Boyd oak tree was uprooted by Hurricane Betsy’s Category 4 winds in 1965, and the Nicholson oak tree was taken down in 2000 after it was in declining order from being struck by lightning several times.Two other trees have been replanted in the gardens to replace the Annie Boyd and Nicholson oaks.Mathilde Myers, horticulture assistant manager for the Office of State Buildings, said the tree was grand and gracious, but now it’s a real loss for her.”It will take another 250 years or so for us to grow another tree to that size,” Myers said.