Pelham's Thriving and Living Memorial to the Pell Treaty Oak That Once Stood on the Grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion

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On June 27, 2004, hundreds of Pelhamites gathered on the grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum for a dinner, party, and dance to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Thomas Pell's purchase of the lands that became the Manor of Pelham on June 27, 1654.  The celebration, held only a few dozen feet from the site that according to tradition was where the Pell Deed was signed by Native Americans and Englishmen, was part of a year-long celebration that included dozens of major events, gatherings, and commemorations.  According to tradition, the Pell Deed was signed beneath the spreading branches of a massive White Oak that came to be known as the Pell Treaty Oak.

During the celebrations on the grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum that day, a few dozen attendees were given White Oak seedlings a few inches tall to take home after the festivities and plant as a living memorial to, and reminder of, the great White Oak once known as the Pell Treaty Oak.  Immediately below is a photograph of the seedlings that day, collected on a table next to the mansion, awaiting their new owners.

White Oak Seedlings Given to Some Attendees

of the 350th Anniversary Celebration of the Pell

Deed Held on the Grounds of the Bartow-Pell

Mansion Museum on June 27, 2004.  Photograph

by the Author.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

It is not known how many of the seedlings were planted nor, among those, how many flourished and have survived.  At least one seedling awarded that day has thrived and serves as a living memorial to the Pell Treaty Oak.  That seedling, as one might suspect, was given to the author and was planted in his yard where the White Oak now has grown to a height of about twenty feet, standing as a silent reminder of the history of Pelham.  An image of the White Oak appears immediately below.

White Oak in the Author's Yard Grown from

a Seedling Given During the 350th Anniversary

Celebration of the Pell Deed Held on the Grounds

of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum on June 27,

2004.  Photograph by the Author.  NOTE:  Click

on Image to Enlarge.

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I have written extensively about the legend of what came to be known as the "Pell Treaty Oak" including a book on the topic published in 2004 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Pell purchase.  For examples, see:

Bell, Blake A., Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc., 2004). 

Bell, Blake, Thomas Pell's Treaty Oak, The Westchester Historian, Vol. 28, Issue 3, pp. 73-81 (The Westchester County Historical Society, Summer 2002). 

Wed., Aug. 24, 2016:  Washington Post Report of the Final Destruction of the Pell Treaty Oak in Pelham Bay Park in 1909.

Tue., Jan. 05, 2016:  Donation of a Piece of the "Pell Treaty Oak" to the Manor Club in 1940.

Tue., Oct. 16, 2007:  Information About Thomas Pell's Treaty Oak Published in 1912.

Tue., Jul. 24, 2007:  Article About the Pell Treaty Oak Published in 1909. 

Mon., Jul. 23, 2007:  1906 Article in The Sun Regarding Fire that Destroyed the Pell Treaty Oak. 

Wed., May 2, 2007:  Information About Thomas Pell's Treaty Oak Published in 1922.

Fri., Jul. 29, 2005:  Has Another Piece of the Treaty Oak Surfaced? 

Tue., Jun. 14, 2005:  Ceremony in 1915 to Open Bartow-Pell Mansion as Headquarters of International Garden Club Marred by Tragedy.

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