‘Survivor Tree’ To Be Dedicated In Hopatcong On Sept. 11

HOPATCONG, NJ — A sapling offshoot of a resilient tree that was scorched by the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in 2001, is going to be recognized during a special ceremony at its new home in Hopatcong this coming Sept. 11.

Hopatcong hosts its yearly Sept. 11 remembrance event, with its upcoming ceremony on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, beginning at 10 a.m. at Fireman’s Park by Borough Hall.

Hopatcong Mayor Michael Francis said the flowering sapling from the original “Survivor Tree,” a Callery pear tree that was so badly devastated - burned and broken after terrorists steered two commercial airliners into the towers of the World Trade Center on that fateful day - is going to be dedicated on Saturday, Sept. 11, with a monument and plaque at Fireman’s Park.

“This is a very high honor for the borough,” Francis told Patch on Tuesday.

After the tree was found so damaged in Oct. 2001, it was taken for rehabilitation by New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, before being replanted at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum nearly a decade later in 2010, according to the memorial’s website about the tree.

The tree has become a symbol and “living reminder of resilience, survival and rebirth,” the 9/11 Memorial and Museum wrote.

Francis said as part of the program in picking up the Survivor Tree seedling, the Hopatcong Fire Department drove with a fire truck to a high school in the middle of New York City.

That school, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum explained, John Bowne High School in Flushing, Queens, began working with the Bartlett Tree Experts in Stamford Connecticut in 2013, to start up the Survivor Tree Seedling program.

The tree will be planted by Hopatcong’s 9/11 Monument, which has portions of a steel beam from the World Trade Center.

For the Hopatcong community, the tragedy hit home in many ways on Sept. 11, 2001, with first responders from Hopatcong helping at Ground Zero during the rescue and then recovery efforts that followed.

A flight attendant who worked with United and lost friends aboard United Airlines Flight 175, will be one of the guest speakers at Hopatcong's remembrance ceremony, as well as former Hopatcong Mayor and member of the Sussex County Board of County Commissioners, Sylvia Petillo, Francis said.

"We don't want people to forget [about Sept. 11, 2001]," Francis said.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.