What is "charter oak"

The Charter Oak was an unusually large white oak tree growing, from around the 12th or 13th century until it fell during a storm in 1856, on what the English colonists named Wyllys Hyll, in Hartford, Connecticut, in the United States. According to tradition, Connecticut's Royal Charter of 1662 was hidden within the hollow of the tree to thwart its confiscation by the English governor-general. The oak became a symbol of American independence and is commemorated on the Connecticut State Quarter.

The name Charter Oak refers to several things:

• The Charter Oak, the oak tree said to have hidden the charter of the Connecticut Colony
• The Charter Oak Bridge, named for the tree, which carries U.S. Highway 5 and Connecticut State Route 15 over the Connecticut River
• Charter Oak State College, a Connecticut public college offering distance education courses
• Charter Oak A schooner and cargo ship out of Boston used in the American Civil War, captured by Confederate forces and burned in 1864.
• Places named Charter Oak:
  • Charter Oak, California, United States
  • Charter Oak, Iowa, United States
  • Charter Oak, Missouri, United States, an unincorporated community in Stoddard County, Missouri