What is the oldest tree in Martinsville, New Jersey?
The oldest tree in Martinsville is the Devil's Tree, an oak of at least 200 years standing by itself in an open field off Mountain Road, in the Martinsville section of Bernards Township. No botanical survey has established which oak it is, so it is listed here as Quercus, and 200 years is a floor rather than a measurement. The field is public open space and free to enter, but a chain-link fence around the trunk keeps visitors at a few paces.
Martinsville is part of Bernards Township in Somerset County, and there is no public transport to the tree. It is a car trip, off Mountain Road, and the field it stands in is undeveloped land the township designated as public open space. A sign posted in 2007 gives the hours, closing about half an hour after sunset, which is aimed squarely at the night visits that made the fence necessary. Expect one tree in an empty field, and expect to look at it rather than touch it. The chain-link ring went up after years of vandalism, including attempts to burn and to fell it, and the axe and chainsaw scars are visible from outside the fence. One thing to get straight before you drive: this is not the Basking Ridge oak. That was a different tree, a 600 year old white oak a few miles away, which died in 2016 and was removed the following year. It is regularly confused with this one. The Devil's Tree is alive.
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