FAIRHOPE, Ala. — My how time flies.

And the older you get, the faster it seems to leap and bound.

So, for a number of local residents, it might seem like just yesterday that Fairhope was incorporated as a municipality.

“I bet that tree’s a 120 years old,” said Tom Ellis, chairman of the city’s Tree Committee, referring to a longleaf pine on the Fairhope campus of Faulkner State Community College. “One tree that fell on the campus had rings showing it was 155 years old.”

Though precious few people remember when the city was born in 1908, a number of trees in Fairhope still stand from those days when the founding citizens laid out plans for the future.

Some of them are much older, but with ages harder to determine, such as the live oak on the campus, which was probably 100 years old when Marietta Johnson founded the School of Organic Education here in 1907, said naturalist Fred Nation of Daphne.

“Through historical records, we can determine that the live oak in Daphne was probably 100 years old in 1787, if that gives you an idea how old some of these local live oaks might be,” he said.

So, these tall leafy natives with the big limbs have towered throughout town over many changes during the past century, and will cast their long shadows this year as the city celebrates its centennial anniversary.

One of the most creative and enduring ways that the city will celebrate its birthday anniversary this year is through the Fairhope Centennial Tree Program 2008.

“We will be planting 100 long-lived trees that we hope will be here for the second centennial anniversary in 2018,” said Jackie Frodsham, an organizer of the event and member of the Tree Committee and Wisteria Garden Club, one of the event sponsors. “People can have a tree planted in honor or in memory of someone they choose.”

The trees will be marked with a special centennial medallion with the memorial placed on the back of the medallion she said.

The long-lived tree species that will be planted include: live oak seedlings from the famous “jury oak” at Blakeley Park, sand live oak, post oak, turkey oak, white oak, swamp chestnut oak, blackgum, tupelo, longleaf pine, mockernut hickory, bald cypress, pond cypress, atlantic white-cedar, southern red-cedar, ironwood and flatwoods plum.

“During the current winter-spring planting season, trees will be planted in prominent locations in parks and on other public lands,” a news release for the event stated. “Private residents, businesses and institutions are encouraged to participate by contributing money. Memorial trees may be purchased for $50.”

The Fairhope Tree Committee and the Fairhope Horticulture Department are leading the project. For more information, contact Jennifer Fidler, city horticulturist, at 928-8003.