The Salem Oak was a white oak tree at the Salem Friends Burial Ground in Salem, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[1] [2] Estimated to be more than 500 years old, the Salem Oak was a landmark tree under whose branches Salem’s founder John Fenwick is said to have first met with local Lenape tribe of Native Americans in 1675.[3] Fenwick (1618–1683) was the leader of a group of Quakers who emigrated in 1675 from England to Salem, New Jersey, where they established Fenwick's Colony, the first English settlement in West Jersey.[4]
Measuring 22feet in circumference and estimated at between 500 and 600 years old, the tree did not sustain any damage from the Hurricane Sandy in October 2012,[5] but collapsed in 2019.[6]