Stephen F. Austin's love for trees and plants is manifested in letters he wrote to his beloved sister Emily and her husband, James Franklin Perry, after they moved to Texas in 1831. It was Austin's fondest dream to establish his sister near him in Texas. Peach Point, a beautiful spot between the San Bernard and Brazos rivers, was his choice of a homesite for them and it was there that the Perrys built their home. In his letters Austin urged his brother-in-law to plant figs, oranges, plums, peaches, walnuts and pomegranates. He also urged him to “save the live oaks round the yard and the pecan trees.”

This same love of trees is evidenced by the actions of Austin's nephew, Stephen Samuel Perry (1825-1874), Emily's eldest son, who as master of Peach Point planted a live oak tree on the front lawn when each of his children was born. Although the great storms of 1900 and 1909 destroyed all but the northernmost portion of the “big house” which Austin had designed, two of Samuel Perry's oaks stand as memorials of his love for his children and of his love for the trees and beauty of historic Peach Point. The tree pictured stands nearest one of two sets of slave-built brick pillars which still guard the old entrance to Peach Point. Austin's reconstructed room, at the north end of the “big house,” can be seen behind the historic oak.

The Perrys moved into their new home in 1832, and while Austin lived, it served as his home. Austin's first burial, in 1836, was in the little family cemetery less than a quarter mile north of the big house. In 1910, his body was removed to Austin.

The owner of this tree does not allow public visitors.