Months After Hurricane Sandy, Giant Trunks Of Carroll Park's Fallen Trees Finally Removed

Trunk of Carroll Park tree that fell across Carroll Street during Hurricane Sandy, as it lay across the fence since the end of October 2012

And photos taken on Friday, March 29, 2013 while it was finally removed.

(photo credit: Joe Auer)

(photo credit: Joe Auer)

(photo credit: Joe Auer)

(photo credit: Joe Auer)

(photo credit: Joe Auer)

(photo credit: Joe Auer)

(photo credit: Loren Sosna)

The site all cleaned up after stump removal

Carroll Park, Brooklyn's third oldest public park, lost quite a few majestic trees during Hurricane Sandy at the end of October, including two very old giants that had probably been planted when the park first opened in the 1800's. One of them, an elm tree, crashed across the fencing on Carroll Street between Court and Smith Streets. Its branches were almost immediately cut into sections after the hurricane to clear the way for traffic. But its gigantic trunk needed to be removed with special equipment, which is not readily available to the Parks Department.
Finally, this past Friday, a crew arrived with a crane and lifted the trunk over the fence and onto a truck

The second tree was a Linden tree, which had stood in a section of the park along President Street. In November, the branches had already been removed in November 2012, but again, the trunk and the roots were just too heavy for removal.

However, rather than to remove the entire trunk on Friday, the crew just cut off the root ball and left the trunk so that the children could climb on it. After all, it is right next to the giant bolder that was brought into the park from a construction site on Clinton Street at the request of  Friends Of Carroll Park.

Judging by the fun the kids had on the rock and the trunk yesterday afternoon, it was a great decision to leave it where it had fallen.

(photo credit: Joe Auer)
The trunk of the linden tree as it had fallen in a border along President Street

Now, it has been repurposed as climbing equipment for the kids.

My thanks to Joe Auer and  Loren Sosna for the use of their photos.