Kalmbach Park Mends From Sandy's Damage

Hurricane Sandy took a lot with her when she left: a rollercoaster, lots of sand, hundreds of homes.

But not all the devastation was in New Jersey.

When she blew out of here, Hurricane Sandy took 117 pine trees from the corner forest at Kalmbach Memorial Park.

"This is a very sad loss...a part of history, a piece of legacy and a cherished landmark destroyed... it came at a tremendous cost, in every sense to the word," says Laura McCready, who with her husband, Michael, are administrators of the park.

With the help of Crow Haven Excavating of Zionsville, the McCreadys began working this week to clean up Sandy's devastation.

Each of the hundreds of trees in the forest at the corner of Cotton and S. Church streets was planted by hand by Frederick Kalmbach himself to remind him of the Black Forest in Germany, Laura McCready says.

"He planted conifers (that stay evergreen) but he also planted larch trees that are deciduous and lose their needles in fall," she says.

"He planted them in such a way that if you flew overhead in fall and winter you would be able to see his initials FK. That information was discovered after the path had been made and the park opened. If you have seen our raised vegetable garden you will notice the letters, K.M.P.  We did that in keeping with Mr. Kalmbach’s thoughts," she says.

In addition to the photos you see here taken by Patch, there are many more on the park's Facebook page. While you're there, "like" the park's page to track the ongoing progress of the clean-up.

Kalmbach Park also lost about 40 trees in its other forest. McCready says they hope to get volunteers to help with that clean up. Contact the park for more information.