Dueling Oak

New Orleans's legendary Dueling Oak is the remaining member of a famous pair of historic trees. Artist Stephen Malkoff says this one of his most striking works of his career.

Beneath the boughs of the Dueling Oak the affaires d'honneur were settled. The twin oaks were majestic residents of the Allard Plantation. Today the plantation is City Park, one of the city's jewels.

The upper Dueling Oak suffered a fatal uprooting during the September 1949 hurricane. Under the roots a workman found a pair of gold prince nez eyeglasses  more than 100 years old and two Bowie knives. The crypt under the Dueling Oak is by legend the grave of Louis Allard, Jr., heir of the Allard Plantation, who died in May 1847. Forty-five years later, when the park was developed, the crypt was opened. It was found empty. To this day the mystery remains: "Was there ever a body buried here?"