Business owner attempting to save stately beech tree
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer

FREEHOLD - If trees could only talk, the stories they might tell; for instance, what would the magnificent European copper beech tree that stands in the backyard of Interstate Motor Carriers Agency, 55 E. Main St., have to say about the borough?

The base of the tree now resembles what arborists call "elephant knees," all wrinkled and stubby. Its limbs, gnarled and crooked from 150 years of existence, would likely tell tales not referenced in any Freehold history book.

Its base is so wide it appears as though several trees joined together somewhere during the last century. Arborists refer to this type of growth as multiple stems or co-dominant stems. Its limbs joining, twisting one over another in an exquisite pattern that only Mother Nature could create, extend so far upward that it almost hurts a person's neck to look up at them.

Now, an expert says the tree is diseased and must come down.

Steve Chisholm, the owner of Aspen Tree Experts, Jackson, is a New Jersey certified tree expert and arborist. Chisholm has examined the tree several times over the past year and said it must come down.

He said the European copper beech tree, which was brought to the United States from Europe when people settled here, is "very sensitive." These trees, once plentiful in Monmouth County, are being seen less frequently, partly due to old age and partly due to the extreme changes in environment and climate, according to Chisholm. He said recent periods of drought have also harmed the trees.

He said the beech tree has been "spiraling downhill" for years, more so in the last five years. Phytopthora, a type of fungus, has entered tree, causing rot, according to Chisholm.

He said the base has areas of wear, holes and peeling bark - enough to allow disease to have entered.

The owner of the property, Howard Freilich, said he believes the tree dates to the Civil War, and would like to save the tree that has acted as a natural air conditioner for so many years, and provided so much beauty and comfort to the families

who lived on the property where it

stands.

History books would not have recorded how many

picnics and family gatherings were held under the tree's shade, or how many young men courted

fair ladies underneath its

limbs.

There is some evidence that begs for a story though - a set of letters carved into the tree's base. Though undecipherable now, one wonders what the letters say. Who wrote them? Were they written by lovers, carving their name into forever? Or perhaps some boys naming a tree house?

Freilich is trying to save the beautiful tree which, if it does come down, will take a piece of Freehold's past with it.