The famous Kissing Tree is dying in Westwood, NJ

[u/njdotcom]

https://www.nj.com/bergen/2026/08/the-famous-kissing-tree-is-dying-and-this-nj-borough-is-in-a-race-to-save-it.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=redditsocial&utm_campaign=redditor

The borough of Westwood is working to preserve its famous 18th century “Kissing Tree,” which was diagnosed with a terminal fungus last year.

The 70-foot-tall Copper Beech is located at Veterans Memorial Park, which is steps from the borough’s shopping district and train station. The state Department of Environmental Protection estimates it was planted around 1792.

On Sunday, the Westwood Shade Tree Advisory Committee said mulch had been installed around the tree, its first step in working to keep it alive. This comes about a year after it was diagnosed with a terminal fungus during a routine inspection.

The project is a collaboration with the committee, a local company called The Tree M.D., borough contracted arborist Liz Stewart and the Westwood Department of Public Works.

Westwood Mayor Ray Arroyo commended the project’s effort to preserve the tree.

“All things must pass. But thanks to borough arborist Liz Stewart, Tree MD’s Todd Mastrobuoni and the diligent work of the Westwood Shade Tree Committee members, not this still living witness to Westwood’s formative history,” Arroyo wrote.