ROCHESTER, N.Y. — When a tree fell during a storm in a historic Rochester cemetery recently, it uncovered a century-old secret — something that no one expected.  

Mt. Hope Cemetery is one of Rochester’s most unique attractions.

“It is a pretty special place,” said Chris Petote, a volunteer for Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery, a group which helps with upkeep on the 200-acre property. “We were voted, for three years, the number one tour for the city of Rochester.”

“It’s a great place,” said Tom Jones, a fellow volunteer. “You come here, it’s peaceful. It’s in the middle of the city, but you can hear the birds chirping and deer running by and things like that.”

The cemetery is the final resting place for more than 370,000 Rochesterians. And, it turns out, one long-deceased woman — whose tombstone has people talking.

Last week, there was a big wind storm. Jones was in the cemetery at the time, and he drove around looking for damage. He found an old Norway Maple lying across several grave markers.  

Then he took a closer look.

“I just happened to look over my shoulder, and it’s like, wow,” he said. “It’s like, right there.”

A headstone — which had been buried beneath the ground and the trunk of the tree — almost perfectly preserved.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Jones. “Being exposed like that? No. That was a trip.”

Jones shared some photos with Petote, who later posted the discovery on the Friends of Mt. Hope Facebook page. The response was immediate.

“I’m like, ‘oh my god, that’s crazy,’ ” she said.

Petote began researching the name on the stone. Edna Amelia Goodman Allen died in 1918. The wife, and mother of a young son, was just 26. Somehow, her headstone held up.

“At first I thought it was great, because it was very legible,” she said. “You could read it, which my assumption is because it’s been underground. It’s been protected.”

“It’s a feel-good story,” said Jones. “You know, someone that had been there, she died over 100 years ago and now we’re talking about her.”

Volunteers are waiting on city cemetery crews to remove the mess, so they can spruce up the gravesite.

“It was something unusual, and a neat thing to find,” said Petote. “We’ll do our best to do her justice.”