The Presbyterian Church in Basking Ridge is a historic church at 1 E. Oak Street in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township in Somerset County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States. The church congregation was founded in 1717. The present church, which was constructed in 1839 in a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style, with is listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Until 2017, the churchyard held the Old Oak Tree of Basking Ridge, which was estimated to be 600 years old.

Old Oak Tree

In the historical graveyard of the church stood a white oak, sometimes called the "Holy Oak", until 2017. It was 619 years old, possibly the oldest white oak in the world. It was nearly tall and had a spread of more than . It had a trunk circumference of and its lower branches were supported. English evangelist George Whitfield and American clergyman

James Davenport James Davenport may refer to: *James H. Davenport (born 1953), professor of information technology at the University of Bath *James Davenport (clergyman) (1716–1757), American clergyman from Connecticut *James Davenport (Connecticut politician) ( ...

, preached under the tree on November 5, 1740, to a crowd of 3,000, in the First Great Awakening.

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

's troops were drilled on the village green, within view, and Washington picnicked under the tree with the Marquis de LaFayette. The 5,500 French troops of Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau marched by in 1781, on their route to Yorktown, Virginia and the

decisive battle A decisive victory is a military victory in battle that definitively resolves the objective being fought over, ending one stage of the conflict and beginning another stage. Until a decisive victory is achieved, conflict over the competing objecti ...

of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. In June 2016, the tree was "failing to thrive" and showed signs of distress as its upper parts failed to sprout leaves. By September 2016, the tree had died. The tree was taken down over three days with the work finished on April 26, 2017. A young white oak grown from an acorn of the old tree has been planted in the churchyard. The new biggest tree in New Jersey is identified as another white oak tree in the yard of the

Sparta Historical Association Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

of Sparta, New Jersey.

Building

The church building is by , with a stone masonry foundation and red brick walls. The long side of the church has five windows tall and wide, with 30 over 30 over 30 glass panes in three sashes. As of 1974, much of the glass seemed to be original. The

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

inventoried the church in 1939.It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Presbyterian Church In Basking Ridge Historic places on the Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Presbyterian churches in New Jersey Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Churches completed in 1839 19th-century Presbyterian church buildings in the United States Churches in Somerset County, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Somerset County, New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places Bernards Township, New Jersey 1839 establishments in New Jersey

Old Oak Tree

Building

See also

References