COPIED FROM TIMES UNION

KINDERHOOK — The Martin Van Buren National Historic Site is closed after dozens of trees were knocked down during storms last week. Crews are working to clean up the damage, but it is unclear how long it will be before the eighth president’s former home can open again. 

Site manager Megan O’Malley estimated 100 trees were either knocked down or damaged by a windstorm on Thursday evening, but crews were still on the site assessing the damage and the total number of trees. Many massive trees — some dating to Van Buren’s lifetime — remained down Tuesday, littering the grounds of the 137-acre estate where Van Buren spent the final decades of his life.

“The level of damage here is unprecedented,” said O’Malley, who has overseen the site for 10 years. 

Local meteorologists say humid air conditions contributed to a series of storms that pummeled not only Columbia County, but Dutchess and Ulster counties in New York and Litchfield County in Connecticut in recent days.

“Based on the type of damage that occurred, we can certainly estimate that there were wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph,” National Weather Service meteorologist Brett Rathbun said on Tuesday.

So far, crews at the historic site have completed work cleaning up smaller trees near the park’s walking and driving paths.

O’Malley said six to 12 mature pine trees that were at least 100 feet tall had fallen, making the work “difficult and more time-consuming.” A local arborist said removing trees that big requires a team of four to six people.

The site has brought in reinforcements from among the national park staff at President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s historic home and the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park. Specialized equipment will be needed, according to O’Malley.

“We are in the process of requesting emergency funding, and we will likely bring in additional (National Park Service) staff to assist with the cleanup and the removal of trees,” she said. 

Home to Lindenwald Mansion, the site hosts historic tours of the house where Van Buren lived after leaving the White House in 1841 until his death at 79 in 1862.

O’Malley said that historic structures on the property suffered minimal damage, with the mansion only enduring a broken window pane from a tree branch. 

The visitor center, the mansion and the site grounds have been closed since July 3, the day after the storm. O’Malley said she believes work to reopen the site will take less than a month to complete, while an arborist at the site estimated it will take a week to 10 days to remove the larger trees.

After the work is done, the park can reopen to the public. But the repair process will continue with additional steps needed to replace trees that are “part of the historic landscape” with similar ones. O’Malley said the site’s arborist noted that any downed tree historically documented to Van Buren’s time will be replaced with one of the same species in the same location.