The storied history of New Jersey's fallen Salem Oak Tree

WPVI logo
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Remembering the fallen Salem Oak Tree
Once standing tall as a treasured piece of history, New Jersey's nearly 600-year-old Salem Oak Tree has collapsed.

SALEM, N.J. (WPVI) -- Older than the United States of America, the Salem Oak Tree has fallen to the end of its historic life.

For nearly 600 years, it provided shade and comfort in what is now the Salem Religious Society of Friends burial ground.

Today, it can be found sprawled out in ruins on the Quaker resting place.

Notably, it was the site of a treaty made with English Quaker John Fenwick and the local Lenni Lenape Indians in 1675. It has celebrated many accomplishments in the centuries that followed.

We spoke with locals who admired it for generations.

To learn more about their mission and how they plan to carry on their legacy, visit their site.