For all of you that were touched/angered by the story about the old cemetery I sent a link to, you might want to know that some of the cemeteries in our area might be in as bad shape. Town Historians are responsible for cemeteries that are still in use, but I suspect they can only make their limited budgets go so far. Here is part of a note I received from the Lisle historian in the daily flow of things - "The care of old cemeteries should be the responsibility of each town and the historian, as a town official, could take the initiative to see that such care is done. In Lisle, the Odd Fellow's Lodge does the mowing and any other physical maintenance. Other groups could be enlisted to do the same. Of course, some town officials could probably care less. " and farther on in the came letter, sent in 1999 "Last summer, a vandalized cemetery in Whitney Point, NY had the stones repaired by a group that does stone work. All the costs of the repairs was donated, so where there's a will, there's a way. " end of snippets. I don't know the solution to the situation, especially for those of us living so far away. Local people could volunteer to help by recording small unused cemeteries to at least try to save them before they disappear, but for the rest of us.... Vicki

Hi Vicki, That update was good for us to know about. I noticed the one cemetery that people cared enough to repair the tombstones. I hope that they were very careful as to just how they did it.... I've been reading the stones in the Riverside Cemetery in Oneonta, Otsego Co. (it's oldest cemetery in Oneonta & has most of the early settlers buried there) and many stones...especially old ones... have been repaired but when they were cemented back together, they not only cemented the center and back but they also cemented the front....covering the names and/or dates. That has been so frustrating! I'm sure the company mentioned bebow didn't do that but if anyone is involved with old cemeteries wanting to restore their stones, it's something that they should be aware of. This was not an old abandoned cemetery...it is a cementery that belongs to a church. It was a really good deed, trying to repair the stones but I don't think whoever repaired them realized that they should have tried somehow to preserve the front or at least the information as there are no records for the oldest portion the cemetery. Thanks, Vicki, for always giving us lots of information to keep us abreast of all that is happening. Sandy, Maryland, NY On Sat, 23 Sep 2000, Vicki Titus wrote: > "Last summer, a vandalized cemetery in Whitney Point, NY had the stones > repaired by a group that does stone work. All the costs of the repairs was > donated, so where there's a will, there's a way. " > I don't know the solution to the situation, especially for those of us > living so far away. Local people could volunteer to help by recording > small unused cemeteries to at least try to save them before they disappear, > but for the rest of us.... > > Vicki