On September 11, the state measured a tree that most Saddle River drivers pass without slowing down. The black walnut at the northeast corner of West Saddle River Road and Lower Cross Road came in at 110 feet tall, with an average crown spread of 96 feet and a trunk circumference of 19 feet, 5 inches. Its diameter was recorded at 74 inches, and its condition was rated "Good." The New Jersey Forest Service puts its age at about 333 years, which means it took root around 1693.

NorthJersey.com reported on September 28 that the tree is still the largest known black walnut in New Jersey. That headline makes it sound like a curiosity. The borough's own records show something steadier. The tree has been checked on a fixed state schedule, the borough has treated it as a landmark, and this fall the walnut's new measurement and the contract to rebuild the road beside it came up at the same council meeting.

Five inches ahead of the next tree

The state Department of Environmental Protection and Forest Service gave the tree a renewed Champion Tree certificate. Forrest Jennings, a forestry assistant with the DEP's Big Tree Conservation Program, told Yahoo News that the tree "is the largest among 20 of its size and species known within the state of New Jersey."

The state ranks big trees by a simple sum. You add the circumference in inches, the height in feet, and one quarter of the average crown spread in feet. The published figures for the Saddle River walnut work out to about 367 points. The state didn't print that total. We calculated it from the reported measurements.

The closest comparison is in Waldwick. The DEP's public Big and Heritage Tree map still lists a black walnut at 198 Bergen Avenue as the Bergen County Champion.

The two trees are the same height and nearly the same width. The Saddle River tree's lead comes from about five inches of trunk.

The Saddle River walnut isn't on the public map at all. The DEP explains that its map showed 188 trees while the full registry held more than 430, and that trees on private property stay off the map unless the owner agrees to be listed. This walnut is on private land. The owner and the borough both received certificates of recognition. Someone checking the state map from home would never learn that the largest walnut in New Jersey stands in Saddle River.

A ten-year schedule, and a borough that kept up with it

The Big Tree Program dates to the 1930s. Its trees are remeasured every ten years to track growth and condition, and this walnut was last measured in August 2016.

The September visit had been planned. At the August 17, 2026 Mayor and Council meeting, Mayor Albert Kurpis reported on the black walnut at the corner of West Saddle River and Lower Cross. The minutes describe it as a "champion tree with landmark designation" and note that the DEP "will measure it as they do every 10 years." The measuring crew came out less than four weeks later.

The mayor put it this way in remarks reported by the Press of Atlantic City:

"We prioritize historical preservation, an appreciation of local history, and environmental stewardship as central tenets of Saddle River's governance. These priorities guide our commitment to preserving the borough's distinctive character and protecting its historical and natural landmarks for future generations."

What 1693 means on this road

A date that old is hard to picture, so the newspaper tied it to two events. In 1693, Newark was organized as an independent township, and the Salem Witch Trials came to an end. Saddle River's own history gives closer reference points. According to the Borough Historian, the Lenni Lenape lived in the area for millennia, land on the west side of the river was conveyed to English settlers in 1709, and the Lenape permanently left in 1756. By that timeline, the walnut was about 16 years old when the land it stands on passed to English settlers, and it was in its sixties when the Lenape left.

The borough's 2010 Master Plan says early farmsteads built by families of Dutch descent were scattered along East and West Saddle River Roads. The walnut stood beside the farmhouses on its stretch of road, or was there before them.

The 2026 story makes a more specific claim: in 1693, West Saddle River Road was an Indigenous north-south trail along the western side of the river. A 2020 history of Bergen County roads describes Lenape trails following the river valleys, but it names East Saddle River Road as the route along the Saddle River. We didn't find any source that settles whether the trail ran on both sides of the river. For now, the West Saddle River Road trail is the newspaper's account.

The road beside it is next

The same August 17 meeting also dealt with Lower Cross Road. The borough engineer described the Lower Cross Road Improvement project as fully funded by an NJDOT grant, covering road repair, curb repairs, and pavement reconstruction. Cifelli and Son was the low bidder. The Council awarded the contract to Cifelli & Son General Contracting Inc. by Resolution 177-26 that evening.

The rebid notice, with bids due August 11, gives a sense of the project's size. It lists 6,420 square yards of full-depth reconstruction, 1,200 tons of asphalt base course, and 2,050 linear feet of granite curb. That much curb comes to a little under four-tenths of a mile.

The public record as of early October still leaves several things open:

• The street limits, including whether the work reaches the West Saddle River Road intersection
• A construction start date, a completion date, detours, or lane closures
• The contract amount
• Any language in the technical specifications about protecting trees

The posted advertisement leaves out the technical specifications. The borough points anyone who wants the full procurement file to its OPRA process. For now, the most you can say is that the borough's oldest known roadside resident and the reconstruction of the road beside it came up a few agenda items apart in the same meeting.

Where to stand under old trees this month

The walnut is on private property. The newspaper's photos show it from the road, with cars going by, and that view from the road is the one to keep. If you want to walk among mature trees this October, the borough's own option is Rindlaub Park, created in the early 1960s on the 23 acres behind Borough Hall. The borough says it is open to the public, subject to posted hours, closures, special events, and park rules.

Rindlaub is also changing this year. At the July 20 meeting, the engineer reported that a rubberized path linking the park to a new path extension at 153 E. Saddle River Road was nearly finished. On August 17, the engineer recommended Downes for a Rindlaub expansion project funded 50/50 with Bergen County Open Space, with benches, landscaping, and a putting green estimated at $23,000. We found no borough notice of a fall closure. Posted signs are the best guide.

For a longer walk outside the borough, Saddle River County Park has a path of about six miles from Ridgewood to Rochelle Park, with tree-shaded picnic areas. The Wild Duck Pond entrance is on East Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood. The Dunkerhook area, reached from Paramus Road in Paramus or Dunkerhook Road in Fair Lawn, has a path that passes Easton Tower and a waterfall. Most county parks open at 7:30 a.m. and close a half hour after sunset.

The DEP's next scheduled measurement of the walnut falls around 2036. When it comes, Lower Cross Road will have been rebuilt, and the borough's records will again be the place to check how the tree has held up.

Landmark trees, historic features, and the municipal projects around them can come up when a property in Saddle River changes hands. Sheryl Epstein-Romano has spent eleven years on the Upper Saddle River Zoning Board of Adjustment and is glad to talk through what the borough's records say about any particular corner. Request a confidential consultation.