Historical Name: Bound Brook, NJ Council
Common Name: White Oak
Latin Name: Quercus alba
The Council Oak grows next to a home on Maple Street in Bound Brook, NJ. This huge White Oak has a significant place in Somerset County’s history. Legend has it that in the shade of this tree on May 4, 1681 two Native American Indian Kings, Knoackama and Queromak, sold the land that was to become Bound Brook and the surrounding area to the first colonial settlers of what is now Somerset County. It has also been said that during the American Revolution General George Washington on several occasions conferred with his officers near the tree while his army was encamped at Middlebrook.
The Council Oak found in UCNJ’s Historic Tree Grove was germinated from an acorn collected from the parent tree, and was planted in the Grove in 2015.