Historical Name: President Lincoln
Common Name: White Oak
Latin Name: Quercus alba
During the presidential race of 1840, Abraham Lincoln campaigned in Albion, Illinois as a Whig elector for General William Henry Harrison, who was in the midst of the “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” campaign. Lincoln spoke to a crowd in an oak grove owned by General William Pickering. The branches of the oaks provided a cool area for the onlookers. Lincoln’s great orations throughout the campaign helped Harrison win the presidency. The grove of white oaks still stands as a living memorial to the early career of the man who would later lead his nation through the Civil War. This tree was grown from a seed taken from the President Lincoln White Oak in the Albion grove, and was planted into UCNJ’s Historic Tree Grove in 1997.
(text adapted from American Forests)