By Staff
March 9th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The wind kept traffic off the Skyway Bridge until close to 6:00 pm creating traffic jam havoc for those heading west out of the city.
The dramatic removal of a truck trailer from the bridge was part of the late afternoon news feed.
The damage done to the cemetery at St. Luke’s Anglican Church on Elgin Street, the oldest church in the city, is going to require close to a total rebuild of the western side. Two very large trees were brought down by the wind with a large number of tombstones in the cemetery that fronts onto Ontario Street were damaged.
The land which St. Luke’s is built on was given to Joseph Brant, the famous Mohawk leader, for his services to British-Canadian forces during the American Revolution. Brant, who had been an Anglican since the age of twenty, gave the land to his daughter, Elizabeth. She, in turn, donated the land for the construction of a church.
Pictures tell the cemetery story:
The task of removing the branches is going to prove to be a very delicate one. Many of the tombstones will have to be handled very carefully.
It did not appear that any of the tombstones were broken.
The cemetery is going to look a lot different when the damaged trees are removed.
High winds are Mother Nature’s method of pruning foliage including large old trees.
The observed damage is one reason graveyards such as St. Lakes need to keep a close eye on all foliage. Trees
may look good in a cemetery however they can be the bane of such areas as well. One reason flat markers are popular, no large trees and easy to maintain grassed grounds.
Would be suggesting to the wardens of St. Lakes a qulaified tree person review the condition of all trees therein; more trees may be internally dead/hollow and not appear as such. Best remove them now as opposed to under duress.
Another tragic end…