Historical Name: John Paul Jones
Common Name: Paper Birch
Latin Name: Betula papyrifera
The John Paul Jones Paper Birch grows at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire home that once served as a residence for the man known as the father of the U.S. Navy. The home was built in 1758 by Captain Gregory Purcell. When he died in 1776, his widow was forced to take in boarders. One of them was John Paul Jones, the commander of the frigate 鈥淩anger.鈥� From this residence, Jones supervised the fitting of the 鈥淩anger鈥� and later, the 鈥淎merica.鈥� Jones, a hero of the Revolutionary War, never owned a home on land. He is buried in the chapel at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. This tree grew from a seed taken from the John Paul Jones Paper Birch, and was planted into UCNJ鈥檚 Historic Tree Grove in 2012.
(text adapted from American Forests)