ENTS,

My father just informed me that he visited Batsto today and found that another tree has been removed. This one's a Buttonwood, and it's right in the village. 

According to what the people told Jenny, the state DEP was going to have several removed. This has got me very upset. Like I said earlier, I've been visiting Historic Batsto Village for 24 years, and it's been open to the public for over 50 years, if I remember correctly. I doubt that any of the old trees has changed significantly since the village was first opened to the public. The oldest trees date to the 19th century, if not the 18th. According to the message I posted on January 31 after my father and I measured the Batsto trees, this particular tree measured 12' 5" with the vines. Subtracting the vines might make it between 11' 5' and 12'.

There are great Buttonwoods near historic sites all over the state, but Batsto has so many. It's a shame to start chopping them all down now. The DEP must be over-run with idiots. I hate to say it, but that's the way it seems.

Anyway, attached are most of my photos of this tree, some with my father in the picture to show scale. The building in the pictures is the ironmaster's mansion, built in the 1760s and "Victorianized" 100 years later by Joseph Wharton. The trees have been near the mansion for much of its existence, if not throughout all of its existence.

And to remind everyone, this is in Batsto State Historic Site, Wharton State Forest, which is in Washington Township, Burlington County, NJ, in the Pine Barrens.

Barry

For those who may have missed it the first time, I've attached my photo of the state champ, which is located in front of a house along the Hope-Johnsonburg Road, Hope Township, Warren County, in the northwestern part of NJ.
My newest copy of the state big tree list shows it as having a CBH of 23' 1".