The tree cutters came to Scott Tyson’s farm in Bedminster, and there were tears. A century-old ash tree beneath which stood brides and grooms and their guests — thousands over the years — had to come down.

“I called in the guys to lighten it up, and they found a crack in the backside,” Tyson said. “They said we better have a further look, and they found rot.

“Turns out that the base is hollow, too. You can’t even count the rings,” he said.

On Wednesday, Tyson stood alone watching the men take down the 80-foot tree, which looked remarkably green and lush.

“You know, with trees, they’re like human beings. They can look perfectly healthy but there’s just something inside them that’s going bad, and you don’t know until it’s too late,” he said.

He stood alone, maybe 100 feet away, watching. He winced a little when a tree cutter, dangling high from a cable on a crane, revved a chainsaw and laid into a thick limb.

“Yeah, I think when we got the bad news, my wife and daughter, Abby, cried a little,” he said.

Perhaps more tears will be shed by the countless couples who, over the years, took their wedding vows beneath its tree boughs, a picture-perfect backdrop in Central Bucks County.

“We’ve been methodically contacting the couples to let them know their tree is no more,” Tyson said. “It’s always been our thing that when a couple reach their 10th anniversary, we invite them back for dinner in the barn.”

The tree’s most striking feature is a thick, horizontal limb, which stretches maybe 30 feet. You could outfit it with a row of rope swings.

“People always like big, straight trees, perfect trees,” Tyson said. “This tree is imperfect, with that limb, and that’s what people like about it most — it’s imperfection.”

The farm has been in the Tyson family for eight generations, since 1859. His father was a dairy farmer, but he and his brother had no interest in doing the same.

“He sold the cows in 1976,” Tyson said.

Some years later, they decided to rent the place, which sits on 18 acres, as a wedding venue. Couples from as far away as New York have married there.

The tree had been undergoing preventative treatments for emerald ash borer. Tyson believes age, not the borer, got the best of the ash.

“My understanding is that ash trees aren’t particularly long-lived trees,” he said.

“It’s also leaning toward us, where the (wedding) guests sit. With the strength of the tree in question, we just couldn’t take a chance of it coming down on people,” Tyson said.

There is a Plan B for couples seeking a Bucks County farm wedding at Tyson’s place.

“We have a grove of maples right down there, and a grove of dawn redwoods,” Tyson said, pointing to a lush, shady spot.

He turned back to the ash, which had just had a huge limb lowered by crane to a woodchipper machine.

“It’s just what has to happen,” Tyson said. “We have to make sure it’s safe. But we will miss it. A lot of people will.”

JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Tyson farm in Buckingham loses ash tree, centerpiece of weddings