Timber: Chestnut Hill Cemetery trees removed for rot

SALISBURY — Several trees were recently removed from Chestnut Hill Cemetery in southern Salisbury.

The work was coordinated through Salisbury Cemetery Administrator Lindsey Stegall and completed by the Salisbury Grounds Maintenance crew.

Stegall indicated on Thursday that during the project they removed about eight trees.

“They were dangerous and dying,” she said of the trees. “There was internal and exterior rot or decay so they were posing risks to the visitors.”

According to a post online from Sustainable Salisbury, several of the aging trees were estimated to range from 80 to 175 years old.

“While some trees appeared healthy from the outside, internal rot had compromised their condition,” the post said. “Maintaining the cemetery’s grounds requires balancing the care of this historic space with the responsibility of addressing potential safety hazards.”

Stegall agreed. According to the cemetery administrator, years ago they had one that fell “right in the middle of everything.”

Nearby residents from the surrounding neighborhood also walk through the cemetery, adding to the potential risk.

“It does happen, so in order to avoid that risk we determined which ones need to come down,” Stegall said.

Adam Mowbray is the Salisbury Grounds operations manager. He explained that there is more than one way to determine if a tree is rotting and thus posing a threat.

“We monitor through the growing season and we can tell based on the tops and decays of the dialback of the canopy if there is something wrong with the tree,” he said.

Additionally, according to Mowbray, “You can sound test with a mallet. It makes dull hollow sound to mean there is delay.”

In some cases it is easier.

“We could see some cases of decay from the outside,” he said.

With another tree, a limb actually broke off and they were able to look down inside it and see the rot.

The crew took great caution in navigating the headstones with a bucket truck to then take the trees that had to go down limb by limb. It was a time-consuming process, but Mowbray said they had to be cautious because of the nature of the surroundings.

“Some of these headstones are 200 years old,” he said.

Stegall praised the Grounds Maintenance crew for their diligent work. That department is responsible for maintaining public spaces throughout Salisbury. Their territory includes six other cemeteries besides Chestnut Hill.