Monthly Archives: April 2015

April 25, 2015 · 5:05 pm

Site Work Complete!

Having completed the tree work back in February, the cemetery was finally ready for some much needed site work. S.Vecchione Inc. of Oreland  brought in several pieces of equipment  to do the job.

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Several large piles of debris needed to be cleared to prepare for the final grading

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A mini excavator is useful for pulling out rotted tree stumps, compacting the back fill and moving small piles of debris.

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This tracked skid steer loader has an attachment that can grip logs.

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This machine was also used to re-contour the ground on the uphill side of the cemetery to keep rain water away from flowing into the stone wall and undermining the foundation.

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After fine tuning the final grade, grass seed and straw mulch was spread to minimize erosion. In about a month the site will be green with new grass.

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Special thanks to Tory Vecchione for bringing his equipment, experience, and  professionalism to the project. A beautiful job!

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Filed under Cemetery, Historic Preservation, S. Vecchione, Site Work, Springfield Township Montgomery County PA

April 25, 2015 · 3:43 pm

Tree Work Complete!

Eleven months after the completion of the Cemetery Survey and Condition Assessment Report we are able to begin the tree work. The work was delayed when we were forced to replace our original arborist. It took several months doing walk-throughs and collecting bids before selecting Cox and Company to do the work.

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Cox and Company used a tracked, self-propelled, high reach. This special piece of equipment is well suited for sites that are tough to access and can easily reach the top of this 60′ Sassafras.

Ropes used to lower the limbs

John Cox cuts the limbs of this 50′ Maple and uses ropes to lower them to the ground.

Lowering a maple limb

The close proximity of the grave stones make this work quite challenging. The ground crew receives the limbs and carries them out of the graveyard.

Working on the Sassafrass

The boom on the high reach is long enough to extend deep into the graveyard while remaining outside of the cemetery walls. Any one of these trees could be blown down in a storm causing catastrophic damage to the cemetery.

Maple tree removed

The removal of these trees helped to eliminate what was perhaps the cemetery’s greatest threat. Thanks so much to John Cox and his crew for a job well done!

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Filed under Cemetery, Cox and Company, Historic Preservation, Tree Work