'Son' Of 600-Year-Old New Jersey Tree Planted In Basking Ridge

The mighty 600-year-old White Oak tree in Basking Ridge may have fallen, but it's legacy will live on in it's "son."

The "son" grew from the acorn of the historic oak tree and was nurtured by Union County College Professor Tom Ombrello for 16 years at the school's Historic Tree Grove in Cranford.

On Tuesday, April 11 officials from UCC in Cranford and Bernards Township were on hand as the young tree was donated to Basking Ridge to be replanted near the original historic oak.

The tree was specifically donated from the students of Union County College, President Dr. Margaret M. McMenamin said during a press conference on Tuesday morning.

"Life goes on. The tree in Basking Ridge may be dying but life will live on in its sapling," McMenamin said. "Just as students at Union County College will be our future and leading this world."

The sapling was dug up from its location in Cranford and will be replanted in the shadow of the historic oak in front of the Basking Ridge Presybyterian Church at 1 East Oak Street around 3 p.m. on April 11.

Bernards Township Administrator Bruce McArthur read a proclamation from the township to Union County College thanking them for the donation of the sapling.

The sapling is among many historic saplings cultivated by Ombrello in the college's Historic Tree Grove. He started the grove in 1995, when he began collecting offspring of trees that he thought were significant in U.S. history.

The Basking Ridge Oak Tree, however, is Ombrello's favorite tree. "I consider it to be the most majestic tree in the entire state of New Jersey," he said.

It wasn't until 2001 when the Basking Ridge oak tree finally produced acorns and Ombrello collected two 5-gallon buckets full of acorns. He brought all the seeds back to the college and began germinating them.

With so many seedlings being successfully grown, Ombrello donated several to local school systems and gave some back to the church to use for a fundraiser.

However, he kept the one sapling because he felt it was the most vibrant. He planted it at the Cranford campus in 2010 and it had done exceptionally well. That sapling is now returning home to Basking Ridge to follow in the historic oak tree's shadow.

Even with that tree leaving the campus, Ombrello noted that there was another sapling, which was actually a sibling of the donated tree, found in the historic tree grove that he had neglected by accident.

Ombrello is now going to nurture the sibling and plant it in the donated tree's place in 2018 or 2019 to live on.

(Image and videos by Alexis Tarrazi)

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