On September 21, 2016, a great, great grandchild of the Great Elm Tree at Shackamaxon became a resident of Camden, NJ. The city, often known for violence rather than peace, has links to the Treaty of Friendship made between William Penn and the Original People in 1682. The tree, presented to Father Doyle of Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Camden,  celebrates the International Day of Peace observed around the world each year on September 21.  It is a reminder that peace is possible everywhere. The young tree will reside in a small park anchored by a stone sculpture engraved on multiple sides with the word “peace.”

The young seedling was nurtured by the staff of the Haverford College Arboretum. It joins a tree child brought to the household of Richard M. Cooper by his child’s nurse. From Kensington, she brought the tree to Camden in her apron. The tree flourished and stands in Cooper Park, north of the Public Library. A sucker from the tree is growing on the sidewalk on the north side of Penn Street, just below Seventh Street. Camden now has three generations of tree children.

There is another Camden connection to the Treaty Tree. The wood from the elm, which fell in a storm in 1810, became highly prized. In 1811, Richard Jordan, a Quaker abolitionist, evangelist and Camden farmer, made a tea caddy from the wood as a gift for Susanna Horne, a globe-trotting Quaker leader. You may know Jordan from English Staffordshire pottery from the 1830s. He is the man in a wide brimmed hat standing with a cow in front of his farm house in Camden.

The Penn Treaty Museum celebrated the International Day of Peace in 2015 by illuminating a large sculpture by award-winning sculptor Bob Haozous that stands near the entrance to Penn Treaty Park. The sculpture, which incorporates a wampum belt, was impossible to see at night. Now, thanks to new lighting, the sculpture is a shining monument to the best of our human spirit.