MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Penn State Harrisburg professor Jen Hirt earned a “notable essay” mention in the Best American Essays 2025 anthology for her essay about a tree that survived 9/11 and is now part of the national memorial in New York City.
The "Survivor Tree" is a Callery pear tree that was discovered, severely damaged, at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The tree was pulled from the rubble and rehabilitated and now stands in the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
Hirt, professor of creative writing in the School of Humanities, said her interest in “survivor trees” stemmed from reading about witness trees, a term now for trees that “witnessed” a major historical moment, such as trees on the Gettysburg battlefield during the Civil War.
She first visited New York’s survivor tree in 2012, when the memorial plaza was not yet complete. She returned in 2022, with the idea to write about the tree.
“I wanted to write about the tree, but I'm a big fan of watching people,” Hirt said. “I want to watch how the people are approaching the tree and interacting with the tree.”
During her time at the tree, she spotted some kids, too young to have been around when 9/11 happened, who were occupying themselves by trying to flip a plastic water bottle and have it land upright.
They held her attention, and Hirt began to think about the kids and their water bottle related to other things — the nearby waterfalls in the memorial, the buildings crumbling on Sept. 11, 2001, the efforts to keep the tree alive.
“I was at the memorial to write about what people did in the vicinity of a tree that was upright but should not have been,” she wrote in the piece.
Hirt’s resulting essay, “Survivor Tree U106” was published in 2024 in Witness, a long-running magazine published by the Black Mountain Institute at the University of Nevada. The work received a “Notable Essay” mention in the “Best American Essays 2025” anthology.
Hirt grew up with her family’s greenhouse business, she said, so trees and plants are a part of her. She’s interested in the cultural differences that may lead one to love or loathe trees. As a volunteer tree tender in Harrisburg, she said, she’s discovered that some people love receiving a free tree — and others do not.
“America also has a very, very strange relationship with trees, and I enjoy documenting that tension,” she said.
The survivor tree in New York is supported by cables and an intricate watering system. Clones of the tree have been grown from cuttings, Hirt said, so that when something happens to the survivor tree someday, there will be another to ensure consistency at the memorial. Callery pear trees are an invasive species that many communities around the country are removing.
“And here’s one that will be standing forever, because they’ve got clones of it ready to replace it,” she said.
Hirt said she hopes readers of her essay think about the meaning given to the phrase “survivor tree” and the time and effort that goes into saving, protecting and preserving such trees.
In addition to her visit to the memorial site, Hirt read every article she could find about the 9/11 survivor tree, watched documentaries about the terrorist attacks, the rescue efforts, and restoration of the area. Research is a part of the creative process, she said, and gives her a unique way to write creative nonfiction.
“I find that it gives my essays a lot more depth to them,” she said.
Hirt noted that she worked to get to the "notable essay" level by studying patterns and trends in creative journals and the essays selected for past Best American Essays anthologies. She works to pass those critical strategizing skills on to her creative writing students — some are humanities majors and others are not, but she hopes to help them all learn how to get published.
“Writing is an art, but publishing is more of a business strategy,” she said. “My colleagues also teach this type of professionalization that goes with artistic endeavors, and it's one of the reasons why our English program here at Penn State Harrisburg continues to attract students.”