Pictured, from left, are Dan Stone, city parks manager, and Gary Moffatt, Jamestown High School senior, with the bench Moffatt made for his Eagle Scout project. The wood for the bench is from the former “Cathedral Oaks” that used to line West Third Street. Submitted photo

The “Cathedral Oaks” may no longer line West Third Street in Jamestown, but that doesn’t mean the trees cannot live on in another form.

Last October, Jamestown High School senior Gary Moffatt with the help of other scouts renovated broken city park benches and built a new bench with wood from the West Third Street oaks. The effort was part of Moffatt’s Eagle Scout project.

“There were 10 of us and we were there for about three hours,” he said. “We did (build) more than one bench. We also fixed seven other benches.”

Moffatt said he was interested in the idea of using the West Third Street oaks to create a bench and fix others because of the rich history of the trees that once lined the city’s west side entrance for decades.

“They remain as something in Jamestown’s history. I feel everyone in Jamestown noticed when they were gone,” he said.

Moffatt said when he went to the city’s Parks Department garage last fall, the wood they used on the benches was already turned into slabs and sanded by city employees.

“Dan Stone (city parks manager) already had the wood made,” he said.

Stone said “it was awesome” that Moffatt wanted to use the oaks for his Eagle Scout project. He said the bench made from the oaks is different than the ones they renovated for city parks.

“He applied a clear stain to the boards and drilled out holes in a black metal frame, and put it all together,” he said. “Hopefully, it’s the first of many more (benches) to come, but it was the first one we were able to have made (from the oak trees).”

Stone said the wood that was used to renovate the other benches had been painted green to go along with the color scheme in the parks.

“The goal, on our end, is to incorporate that wood (West Third Street oaks) into the park system,” he said.

The one made entirely from the oak trees will be used only during special occasions, like at Veterans Memorial Park during a Memorial Day ceremony, Stone said. He said the oak tree bench will sit in his office when it is not on display at a special event.

There will also be a special plaque made and installed on the bench to recognize Moffatt’s Eagle Scout project and the use of West Third Street oak trees to make the bench.

“I think it’s great when the youth in the community get involved,” he said. “It gives them a sense of community pride. It gives them a sense of ownership.”