Historical Name: Nathan Hale
Common Name: Northern Red Oak
Latin Name: Quercus rubra
The Nathan Hale Northern Red Oak shades the boyhood home of the American patriot who spoke the words, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” Nathan Hale was born in Coventry, Connecticut on June 6, 1755. He graduated from Yale University in 1773. He was a captain of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. At age 21, he was captured by the British and confessed to being a spy. Just before being hanged at 11 o’clock on September 22, 1776, he spoke the famous words that inspired his countrymen through the difficult years of the revolution. By coincidence the tree that served as his gallows was also a Northern Red Oak. The boyhood home where Hale grew up was built in 1746 by his father, Deacon Richard Hale. This tree was grown from an acorn collected beneath the Nathan Hale Northern Red Oak in Coventry, and was planted into UCNJ’s Historic Tree Grove in 1997.
(text adapted from American Forests)