Church to celebrate 600-year-old tree before it comes down

Church officials did maintenance-pruning on the tree last week.

BASKING RIDGE --  Church officials have taken the first steps in removing a 600-year-old white oak that is believed to be the oldest oak tree in the country, Jon Klippel, chairman of the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church's Planning Council, said on Wednesday.

The historic tree, which has watched over the church and an accompanying graveyard for the past 300 years, is dead. It will be officially cut down during the early part of 2017, Klippel said. It's possible that a portion of its trunk will remain, he said.

Last Thursday, workers did some "maintenance-pruning" on the tree, Klippel said.

On Nov. 6 at 3 p.m., the church will hold a community-wide celebration of the life of the landmark tree.

Famed English evangelists James Davenport and George Whitefield preached to more than 3,000 people beneath it branches in 1740. George Washington picnicked under its shade. Thirty-six veterans of the Revolutionary War are buried under it.

Allied French troops under Gen. Jean Baptist de Rochambeau marched past the great white oak tree in 1781 en route to the Battle of Yorktown, Va.

Officials deciding how to memorialize tree

Klippel said the work on the tree was done in preparation of the winter.

"It was a very mild tree trimming," he said. "A couple of the limbs that have extended over to the street and sidewalk were cut back. We're just trying to stabilize the tree. That's really the extent of it.

"None of the cables in the tree that support the main branches were removed. We just reduced some of the stress on the longer limbs."

The church, which was built as a log cabin next to the tree in 1717, has formed an Oak Tree Task Force for the planning and management of the removal of the tree, Klippel said. The task force will also decide what to do with the wood and the space once the tree is removed. It is taking suggestions via email at info@brpc.org.

To help with the cost of taking down the tree, the church has partnered with The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills to form a GoFundMe community outreach campaign at www.baskingridgeoaktree.org.

In June, the venerable tree began showing dramatic signs of age and decline as the intense summer heat and violent thunder storms shook it to its core and led to its death.