Historic Elm Tree Purchased for Sons of Liberty Park

The planting of a historically significant tree on its premises will mark Sons of Liberty Park, which will open next April for public use.

The Bernards Township Shade Tree Commission will acquire its second descendant of the Liberty Tree, and American Elm in Boston during the time of the Revolutionary War. The first was acquired with a grant is currently planted next to the town hall building on 1 Collyer Lane.

The original Liberty Tree was christened on Aug. 14, 1765 when a group of radical patriots calling themselves the "Sons of Liberty" met under the elm in the Boston Commons and hung effigies of British Tax collectors in protest of the stamp act.

The tree became a regular rallying place for colonists seeking independence, until the war started and British soldiers occupying Boston cut it down. Descendents of the tree were planted in many American towns – a practice that continues today.

The Shade Tree Commission purchased a crossbred American Elm from the Elm Research Institute, which takes mixes different genetic variants of elm trees with offspring of the original Liberty Tree to produce trees genetically resistant to Dutch elm disease.

The tree will be planted by the Bernards Department of Public Works at the newly purchased park on Allen and Somerville Roads, and will be dedicated with a ceremony and permanent plaque explaining its significance.

The Shade Tree Commission itself is made up of volunteers who save the township insurance money by inspecting for and removing potentially dangerous trees. They also help to beautify the area by planting their own trees.

"We try to improve the community with trees and shade," said the commission's chair Randy Santoro. "Shade is a great thing because it helps with air conditioning and it helps cool down [buildings], ... saving on [utility bills], [adds] beautification and fresh air – all sorts of things."

The commission's most recent completed project was planting trees along the new additions to Ridge High School. "If they had any trees, they were gone with putting the new building in. [And] when they were done with construction there really weren't a lot of new trees put in [as replacements]," Santoro said.

After submitting a plan to the school and getting the green light in October, the commission planted the new shade trees and placed small trees behind the two Ridge High School dedication boulders at the entrance of the school.