Wow that's sad he cut it down out of sheer ignorance and possibly laziness.
It's possible some wise people know of older trees but keep their mouth shut to protect them.
This tree is about 30 minutes from my house, I have been there many time and many generations of my family have been there. I was planning on taking my son there soon. I was very sad to hear about this, the Senator has been a historic part of Old Florida.