Roswell Street shut down to remove fallen tree from cemetery

MARIETTA, Ga. — Work crews shut down parts of a busy Marietta street Tuesday morning as they removed a fallen 200-year-old oak tree from Marietta National Cemetery.

The old oak collapsed last week during rains. A look at the base revealed it was rotted and hollow. The tree fell over some headstones and the cemetery walls along with blocking parts of Roswell Street. Crews cut the tree out of the road last week, but waited until Tuesday to remove the rest of it.

"You're looking at 100,000 pounds worth of tree out there that's going to have go be cut up into the sections," said Premier Tree Solutions' Scott Overstreet. "That's going to have to be cut up into sections and slowly and meticulously removed."

Police shut down two lanes of Roswell Street to make room for the large crane needed to remove the heavy tree.

The crews said removing the tree itself was not difficult, but the fact that they're operating inside a National Cemetery, the burial ground for many veterans of numerous wars, makes it tricky.

"We take extra special care when we're in here," said Jeff Roth of Premier Tree Solutions. "We put down plywood. We maneuver around the head stones. We don't put gear or anything up against them so there's a lot of respect when it comes to working here."

WSBTV