End of an ancient oak.

• Position: NATURE - Great White Oak - Brief article

It's the oldest oak tree in the Western Hemisphere-and possibly the world--and it will soon be gone. The Great White Oak in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, was already 300 years old when General George Washington met with his friend the Marquis de Lafayette of France under its massive canopy during the Revolutionary War (1775-83). But scientists have now declared the tree dead at the ripe old age of about 600. After months of failed efforts to save it, the town is expected to cut it down in late April. What doomed the 100-foot-tall oak? A combination of old...