ENTS,
 
The other day I told my father about how I've been measuring the circumference, or CBH, of trees lately. I told him that there was a big Willow Oak in Egg Harbor City that I wanted to measure, but that I would need help since there's no place to hook the tape. I asked him if maybe sometime if he's in the area, he could help me.
 
Today he said he was available to help. So we measured the big Willow Oak. It is very tall and seems to have two trunks. From about 10 feet up it's definitely two trunks, but I'm assuming it had two central leaders that started out above ground when the tree was new. So I guess it counts as a two-trunk tree. The CBH is 13' 71/2". But there was some air space in that measurement because of how, even though the two trunks are fused, the single fused trunk is not round. But still, it is an amazing and beautiful tree. I took new photos of it with my dad in the pictures. I took pictures the other day when I was alone too.
 
Now, after this my dad asked if that was it, or if there were other trees to measure. I said that I had wanted to measure the old trees at Batsto (State Historic Site). I said that if he wanted to, we could go do that. So we did. We stopped in the visitors center and my dad asked if they had any hats for sale. They didn't but there was one in the lost & found box that they said he could have. He needed it because it's 28 degrees and quite windy.
So we started with the trees around the ironmaster's mansion.
First there was a Norway Spruce with a Buttonwood near it.
The spruce is 7' 91/2".
The Buttonwood is 10' 11". We had to snake the tape under some small ivy vines.
 
Next, on the other side of the mansion there were some Buttonwoods.
First, a Buttonwood with lots of big ivy: 12' 5". If you subtract the ivy from it, I bet it's a foot less.
Other Buttonwood: 10' 3"
one more Buttonwood: 10' 1"
 
Trees near the old post office:
Maple: 8' 8"
Black Walnut: 9' 9 1/2"
Buttonwood: 8' 3"
 
Trees near the horse barn:
Tuliptree: 11' 10"
Buttonwood with a huge base: 11' 3"
another buttonwood: 11' 1"
Catalpa: 5' 10"
Oak (maybe Black Oak) 10' 7"
 
Trees near another barn:
Oak: 11' 7"
Catalpa: 7' 11"
 
The Spruce, the walnut, the maple, the tuliptree, one of the oaks, and a couple of the buttonwoods are all quite tall. The rest of the trees are not so tall, possibly from a top being broken off some time in the past.
 
There are dozens of other Catalpas around, but none as big as this last one. All have serious damage, I think just from age. They have exposed dead wood with strips of live wood and bark interspersed. These remind me very much of the Bristlecone Pines in California. They look positively ancient, but are not huge.
 
I will send pictures of everything later. For now, there you have the measurements. The village dates from the mid 18th century.
Note: as I have said in the past, when I refer to a Buttonwood, what I'm actually referring to is a Sycamore. They were planted in front of houses in the 18th and 19th centuries throughout the state.
 
Barry