Recently, one of our Facebook Friends asked “Why is an apple tree at Bush Park called the Diversity Tree?” Turns out there are two Diversity Trees— planted in 1981 and 2005. The Salem Human Rights and Relations Advisory Commission, along with concerned members of the community planted both trees in response to hate activity occurring in Salem at the time. Each tree has several different types of apples grafted onto it, meant to represent and celebrate “the richness of Salem’s racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity.”
