Chêne de la Liberté de Clucy

Clucy

Clucy, a handful of houses and a Comté cheese dairy installed in a former chapel of 1746, possesses one of the rare trees of Liberty whose birth certificate is known. The resolution, kept in the communal archives and a copy of which is displayed at the foot of the tree, says it all: on 18 Nivôse of Year II, the mayor Jacques-Antide Berthod points out to the council 'that it would be necessary to plant the tree of Liberty on the public square of the village', and it is decided to do so on the day of the décade, 20 Nivôse, a day devoted 'to the honour of our brave warriors who had the courage and the energy to retake the infamous Toulon', renamed Port-la-Montagne. The festival was celebrated 'with all the honours of the National Guard, all the people showed themselves true sans-culottes'. 20 Nivôse Year II corresponds to 9 January 1794; the commune and the tourist offices say 'planted in 1793', Year II of the Republic, and the discrepancy is a matter of the calendar. A pedunculate oak, and not the poplar then in fashion: the first tree of Liberty, in 1790, had been an oak transplanted from a neighbouring forest. Many were uprooted at the Restoration; this one has come through two centuries on its square, where the commune had the fountain and drinking trough facing it erected in 1846. It is alive, 3.05 m in girth in 2014 according to a naturalist, who found its crown sparse; without a national label, it is the record of planting that gives it its value.

Wikipédia — Clucy ↗

Getting there : From Salins-les-Bains, the D 472 towards Cernans and Levier for three kilometres, then left towards Clucy at the last hairpin; the oak is in the centre of the village, on the square, freely accessible. The belvedere of Fort Belin, nearby, overlooks Salins and its two forts. Allow a short stop; the Gouaille waterfall is a few kilometres away.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound