The Mar. 1 tornado left a hole in Americus High School. (Ray Luce, Historic Preservation Division)

On the evening of Mar. 1, a tornado cut through Americus, Ga., uprooting century-old trees, damaging 250 houses in a National Register Historic District, and leveling marble monuments in a Civil War-era cemetery. This week, the town of 17,000, which lost its only hospital in the storm, is cleaning up the debris in the Oak Grove Cemetery.

"The tornado ripped right through the heart of our historic district," says State Sen. George Hooks (D), who lives two blocks from the cemetery. "It destroyed several houses; they just don't exist anymore."

At a public meeting tonight, the Georgia state historic preservation office, representatives from the National Trust's insurance program, and a "triage team" of a preservation architect and two structural engineers will answer homeowners' questions.

"We have been in almost constant contact with folks in Americus," says John Hildreth, director of the National Trust's Southern Office, which provided a $4,000 grant to the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and assembled the triage team that will assess damage to historic properties later this week.

Oak Grove Cemetery (Ray Luce)

High winds smashed many of Oak Grove Cemetery's marble monuments, some of which were 30 feet tall, and toppled 26 historic wrought-iron fences, which the city restored last year.

"We had 150-year old oaks, cedars, and magnolias that were there when this cemetery was laid out in 1856. It just ripped them up by the roots," Hooks says. "Some of the graves were opened where tree roots ripped through them."

This week, at the request of the National Trust's Southern Office, a cemetery preservation group based in Columbia, S.C., will assess the damage to Oak Grove. The Chicora Foundation plans to donate its time and resources to the rehabilitation effort.

President Bush has named nine Georgia counties disaster areas, which means residents will have access to Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.

Says Hooks of the recovery: "It's going to be a long, long road."

Want Today's News headlines delivered to your e-mail box? Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter >>