A 100-year-old oak tree fell to the ground and landed on a North Haven cemetery., damaging 300-year-old headstones.
On Friday morning the town brought in a large crane to carefully lift the tree off the historic site.
The Revolutionary War-era gravesites are at the center of the town green and the cemetery is a piece of Connecticut's history.
One of the region's most famous residents, Benjamin Trumbull, is memorialized at the site.
"Well he wrote the first history of the state. That's really his claim to fame," Gloria Furnibal, a local historian who wrote a book about the cemetery, said.
Trumbull's stone suffered the most damage.
At least six headstones were damaged after a brief storm over the weekend brought the huge tree down.
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Furnibal lives in Trumbull's house across from the green and was stunned when she saw what the tree had done.
"Breathless," she said in describing what she saw.
A crane was brought in to lift part of the tree and then it will be cut into sections to make sure it does not do any further damage to the cemetery.
After removing the tree, a company specializing in restoring gravestones will be brought in.
"It will cost some money for the town, but it's certainly worth it," Furnibal said.
The town plans to donate the wood from the tree to the North Haven Historical Society so it can be used in the future.
