By Isha Strasser, Director of Enrollment and Communications
On Friday, April 29, 2022, students, faculty, and staff will gather to honor the planting of a seedling from the Famous Salem Oak.
The Salem Oak is legendary. This great tree provided shade to the Lenni Lenape who lived and thrived (and continue to live and thrive!) upon these lands for countless thousands of years. The Salem Oak is said to have been the very tree under which the Lenni Lenape treatied with John Fenwick in 1675. The great tree witnessed the rise of the Salem Monthly Meeting House, untold comings and goings beneath its branches, and many farewells in the Friends Burial Ground. For 600 years the Salem Oak was a living symbol and reminder of the promises made–some kept, many broken. Even so, the tree continued to grow and many continued to hope.
When the Salem Oak fell in June 2019, the town mourned. The years since have been full of challenges and difficult choices. It has also been full of possibilities and promises as we continue to grow and hope and work toward the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
As we gather on Friday to plant this treasured seedling of the Salem Oak, we stand in remembrance of this great tree and the relationship between Quakers and Lenni Lenape that was forged beneath its branches. We take a step toward repair, by planting this seedling and by adding a land acknowledgement to our website. These are small steps, but steps we take with hope as we all grow like our new oak seedling toward the brightest possible future.
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