Cemetery Event

Today we had a special event at the cemetery. The first hour was spent on a tour of the cemetery and the second was spent cleaning. I was very impressed by the organization of the event and by the turnout. There was a group of the usual suspects, along with students from the local schools, and then a bunch of local residents who were just learning about the cemetery. One woman who was cleaning a gravestone told me that she had just been walking by the cemetery that morning and saw the sign, so she decided to help. She made a big difference in some of the Brundage stones.

During the clean-up a number of fallen or leaning stones were put back in an upright position. I was especially happy to see this child's grave restored:

Underneath it, we found the bottom of a bottle that I had spotted a few weeks ago. It has a patent date on it of 1870. The grave itself is from 1884.

Stones that are in need of extensive repair were roped off, including the grave of Charles Haight, a major benefactor of the first church.

I helped scrape some lichen off of some of the stones. Some of it comes off very easily. Look at this stone before and after cleaning: