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Community Corner

Township Celebrates Arbor Day With New Park and Historic Tree

A new park and a new tree at Sons of Liberty Farm

Clear blue skies, bright yellow sunshine and an emerging green canopy of leaves unfolding on the trees was the perfect setting for the third major event commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Bernards Township Charter.

On Saturday morning, Township officials and residents convened to celebrate and dedicate the official opening of the Sons of Liberty Park and the planting of the Liberty Elm, an enduring symbol of freedom dating back to 1765.

The Sons of Liberty Park is one of the town's newest parks, acquired in 2008. Many residents know the location as the Richardt property. An aging handwritten sign with the Pledge of Allegiance posted at the intersection of Allen and Somerville roads marks one corner of the property. The sign was put there by former owner, Irwin Richardt.

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With 22 acres, Sons of Liberty Park includes wood-chipped walking paths and two small ponds for fishing (no license is required). The town has added a parking lot, split rail fence, picnic tables and a kiosk that includes historical storyboards and photos of the property and its former owner.

Sean O'Grady, Assistant Director for Parks and Recreation, initiated the event with a welcome speech acknowledging the collective efforts from the Recreation, Parks &  Pathways Advisory Committee, the Shade Tree Commission, the Township Committee, the Department of Parks & Recreation, the Department of Public Works, the Township Administrator and the 250th Anniversary Task Force that culminated in the day's event.

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Mayor Scott Spitzer, in his dedication speech, explained the interplay between the Sons of Liberty Park and the new Liberty Elm. Irwin Richardt was known as a Jeffersonian and identified with the Sons of Liberty, a group of early American patriots. The Sons of Liberty were initially a secret society that would convene at an Elm tree in Boston. The Elm itself became known as the Liberty Tree, representing freedom, and Liberty Trees became common in other towns throughout colonial America.

As Mayor Spitzer commented, the opening of the park, the tree dedication and his health walk (which would follow the ceremonies), "give contemporary meaning to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

While the original Liberty Tree was cut down by British Loyalists in 1775, the new Liberty Elm, planted at Sons of Liberty Park, is a descendant which has been bred for resistance to Dutch Elm Disease. Saturday's planting of the tree was planned as the Township's observance and proclamation of Arbor Day.

Randy Santoro, Chariman of the Shade Tree Commission, read the Proclamation for Arbor Day in dedicating the new tree. This is the 5th consecutive year that Bernards Township has been awarded the Tree City USA, Arbor Day Certification. Chairman Santoro extolled the many benefits of trees and encouraged "all citizen to plant trees."

The new Liberty Elm can be seen as you enter the parking lot. It is surrounded by daffodils planted as part of the 250th Anniversary Daffodil initiative and marked with a commemorative plaque. Michael Viola read "The Liberty Tree," a poem penned by Thomas Paine.  Though written over 200 years ago, it still has meaning today, much like another, more famous document, The Declaration of Independence.

"Unmindful of names or distinctions they came,
For freemen like brothers agree;
With one spirit endued, they one friendship pursued,
And their temple was Liberty Tree."

(excerpted from The Liberty Tree, by Thomas Paine)

Editor's Note: This article originally stated that Chris McManemin read the poem at the ceremony. The article has been corrected to read Michael Viola read the poem.

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