The Cellon Oak is Florida’s largest live oak in terms of crown spread at an average of 160 feet across.
We initially learned about it thanks to the 1997 edition of Big Trees: The Florida Register.
In the book, it’s shown with twenty people holding hands at arm’s length trying to approximate the crown spread.
Putting one of Florida’s biggest trees in perspectiveResources
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Overview
Location: La Crosse
Trailhead: 29.811599,-82.389785
Address: 4100 NW 169th Pl, Gainesville
Fees: Free
Restroom: None
Land manager: Alachua County
Phone: 352-264-6847
Open dawn to dusk. Picnic tables are provided. Please refrain from stepping on the roots of this enormous tree.
Directions
Follow SR 121 north from Gainesville toward La Crosse. A small brown sign points the way (left turn) down NW 169th PL to the park.
About the Park
The park is named for the former landowner who preserved one of Florida’s largest live oaks.
To step right up to it: wow. It’s its own world. It’s an amazing sight. You can see it through satellite photos from Google Earth, it’s so immense.
A plaque at the tree once claimed a height of 79 feet and circumference of 28.7 feet, but those figures dated back more than 30 years.
Base of the tree in 2013Measurements in 2018 for the Florida Champion Tree Registry confirmed a height of 91 feet and circumference of 32.5 feet.
The state lists it as Florida’s co-champion live oak with another on private property in Alachua County.
Since 2018, another slightly larger tree has been confirmed on private property near San Felasco Hammock.
Steel cables serve as lightening arrestors and are strung through the tree like vines.
Limbs bigger than many of Florida’s big trees have been sawed off, presumably to arrest stages of rot.
The Cellon Oak is the centerpiece of Cellon Oak ParkVideo
Visiting Cellon Oak Park
Slideshow
See our photos from Cellon Oak Park
Nearby Adventures
Mill Creek Preserve Slip through a curtain of pine plantation to discover a folded karst landscape with towering American beeches, spruce pines, swamp chestnut oaks, and a small waterfall on a 5.3 mile hike.
Santa Fe River Preserve Gracy Trail Peaceful pathways wind alongside a tranquil creek through shady woodlands, offering a quiet hike among the timid wildlife that call the Santa Fe River Basin home. 
Santa Fe River Preserve A relaxed hike in a wooded preserve, the Blue Trail at Santa Fe River Preserve crosses sandhills and shady oak hammocks to reach the bluffs of its namesake river.
Chastain-Seay Park Discover the beauty of the Santa Fe River and its floodplain habitats at Worthington Springs from the boardwalks of the Riverwalk Nature Trail at Chastain-Seay Park.
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- Baseline Trails - November 7, 2026
- Hal Scott Yellow Trail - November 3, 2026