RICHMOND, Va. -- Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery is the final resting place for many notable figures, including two U.S. presidents and, according to local legend, one vampire.
Covering 135 acres, the cemetery is home to thousands of grave markers, each telling a unique story.
Recently, visitors have noticed a new marker.
"I haven't seen that before," Brittany Chennault, a visitor to the cemetery, said. "When we were walking around, I just noticed the really big tree, and then where it was cut."
For 30 years, Jake Van Yahres and his family's tree company have maintained the cemetery's diverse array of trees, including a lone white oak that withstood Hurricane Isabel in 2003, when many other trees fell. Despite its resilience, the oak's condition deteriorated over the years.
"Every year it's declined, decline, decline. So we tried different things on it. Nothing would work," Van Yahres said. "Basically from last year to this year, it completely died. A number of people have asked like, 'Well, why did you have to chop it down?' It had become a liability and a safety hazard."
This past summer, Van Yahres and his team methodically removed what they could of the massive tree.
It was during this process that he counted the tree’s rings.
He said he was surprised to be able to do so because he said most trees this old are hollow.
His ring count revealed that the tree had lived for an impressive 254 years.
"If you put it into context, like that's older than our country, which is pretty amazing, that's super cool," he said.
Unable to fully cut down the tree due to an iron fence that it had grown around, Van Yahres sought ways to preserve its legacy.
"There's all these tombstones around here. There's never been a tree to tombstone at Hollywood," he said. "I actually sketched it and then presented it to Hollywood. And right away they were like, 'Let's do it.' I would like people to appreciate, just take a step back and appreciate how old this tree is, how much it's seen."
With the oak's history now commemorated, Van Yahres hopes his creation will inspire others.
"Maybe spark an idea from someone else that says, 'We don't always have to remove the entire tree,'" he said. "This was in a cemetery, so that's why that sparked this idea. But all trees aren't in cemeteries. So perhaps there's thousands of ideas of what we could do to help people appreciate trees a little bit more."
Van Yahres' creation can be found near the corner of Freeman Road and Westvale Avenue.
Hollywood Cemetery is open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
In November, hours will shift to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. when daylight saving time ends.
To see more of Van Yahres' art, check out his Instagram.
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