Patrons Grove: a modern name for a historical site located two mountainous miles from Black Rock Forest’s Science Center and Forest Lodge, on the north side of the intersection of White Oak and Continental Roads. This meeting of earthen woods roads is crowned by the prominent White Oak Tree. Born circa 1759, the White Oak Tree is located at the center of Black Rock Forest. Beneath the Oak’s canopy, the Continental Road, constructed in 1782, is the halfway and high point between New Windsor and West Point. After the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, George Washington’s Continental Army strategically marched to New Windsor. While awaiting the slow departure of British troops from New York City, General Henry Knox supervised the army’s construction of Continental Road, connecting the New Windsor Cantonment to the West Point fortifications. With the conclusion of the American Revolution, the army road was abandoned and, by orders signed by General Robert E. Lee, Superintendent at West Point in 1852, ownership of the Continental Road was given to the towns of Cornwall and Highlands. 

During the 1800s, Continental Road provided access over the mountainous Hudson Highlands. Mountain farmers could now homestead in this area and the Chatfield, Babcock, Hulse and Bearmore families were pioneers on this square mile of upland landscape centered around the White Oak Tree. The area we now call Patrons Grove was cleared for livestock pasture. Pigs, cows, chickens, horses, mules, and oxen would find good forage on this surprisingly good growing site in this elevated part of the Highlands. It is believed that during this time, pony express riders could find a fresh horse near the great White Oak. This island of shade surrounded by tree-cut farmland must surely have been a welcome site to weary travelers. The land surrounding Patrons Grove displays a century-old history of Highlands farming that was followed by experimental forest management activities. 

The creation of Black Rock Forest in the autumn of 1927 by Dr. Ernest Stillman began the era of forest reclamation and management. Under the leadership of Forest Director Henry Tryon, a woods crew labored on extensive tree planting and silvicultural treatments to generate the forest of today. 

Henry Tryon was a 1912 Harvard Forestry School graduate. His endeavors into experimental forestry were dictated by the state of the forest in 1927. Repeated cuttings during the 1800s resulted in an unsound stump-sprout forest of oak, hickory, ash, chestnut, and red maple. This poor state was compounded by the devastation of chestnut blight. Species reproducing only by seed –pine, spruce, and hemlock–were severely challenged to persist. Tryon’s efforts to restock conifer species by planting seedlings in open areas created by forest thinning treatments were mostly unsuccessful due to drought, frost, and animal browsing. 

The first silvicultural treatment in Patrons Grove site was initiated in 1930. Citing Mr. Tryon’s operation report: “The old field-pasture area… was given a thorough cleaning and weeding. All dead, dying, and weed trees were taken. The occasional old fruit trees found were given some pruning with the axe but were not cut as their product is needed for birds, coons, and deer.” The remaining saplings were thinned and trimmed by machete and axe. “I sought to establish a uniform crown level for the desired reproduction. This resulted in leaving the crown about 20 feet or less in height. Wasps and hornets were too plentiful for comfort.” In 1940 the treatment was repeated, and the “newly cut oak butts revealed that the first thinning of 1930 had, in some cases, increased the annual diameter increment some 40%.” 

After these two improvement thinnings, the Patrons Grove site was left to grow for forty years. The resultant growth was thick, harboring the previously eradicated ruffed grouse and red squirrel (in the 1980’s), and continuing to support deer, grey and flying squirrels, rabbits, wild turkeys, and numerous songbirds. 

In 1982, a heavy thinning was implemented to release the best specimens of white ash and red oak to reach their full potential while simultaneously creating openings in the canopy to allow sunlight to penetrate to the forest floor and initiate forest regeneration. The straight, 10”-12” diameter white ash trees that were harvested were sent to Ellenville, NY to become baseball bats, embossed with the “Adirondack bat” design. 

The remaining stand of trees reacted favorably to the thinning, increasing both tree trunk girth and crown size.