a specific tree in their town inspired Kilmer's writing. Local tradition in Swanzey, New Hampshire, asserts without proof that Kilmer wrote the poem while summering in the town. Montague, Massachusetts, claims that either "a sprawling maple dominated the grounds near a hospital where Kilmer once was treated" or "a spreading maple in the yard of an old mansion" inspired the poem.Associated Press. "Doomed Oak Said Kilmer Poem Source" in The Berkshire Eagle (September 16, 1963), 8. In New Brunswick, New Jersey, Kilmer's hometown, the claim involved a large white oak on the Cook College campus (now the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences), at Rutgers University. This tree, the "Kilmer Oak", was estimated to be over 300 years old. Because it had been weakened by age and disease, the Kilmer Oak was removed in 1963, and in reporting by The New York Times and other newspapers the local tradition was repeated with the claim that "Rutgers said it could not prove that Kilmer had been inspired by the oak." Currently, saplings from acorns of the historic tree are being grown at the site, throughout the Middlesex County and central New Jersey, as well as in major arboretums around the United States. The remains of the original Kilmer Oak are presently kept in storage at Rutgers University.Press Release: "Cook Student Named New Jersey Cooperative Education and Internship Association Student of the Year" (Press Release: June 13, 2006), published by Cook College, Rutgers University and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, no further authorship information given. Retrieved December 26, 2006. Because of Kilmer's close identification with Roman Catholicism and his correspondence with many priests and theologians, a tree located near a grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, has been asserted as the inspiration for the poem. According to Dorothy Corson, the claim was first made by a priest named Henry Kemper.Corson cites: "They say the big tree that shades Our Lady's niche 'a tree that looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray,' was the inspiration that made the patriot convert, Joyce Kilmer, famous, with his best-known poem." Kemper, Henry. "University Statue Shrine Stories" in The Kerrville Times (1943), 24, in the University of Notre Dame Archives. There are several accounts that Kilmer visited the campus of Notre Dame to lecture and to visit friends, but none of