Volunteers restore dignity to cemetery

2003-11-09

2014-09-10

The Journal News Sunday, November 9, 2003

Volunteers restore dignity to cemetery
United Methodist group braves cold to clean up property

Ron Gumucio
The Journal News
NEW CITY — Roy Kepler grew up a few blocks from a small
famly cemetery on Congers Road, but can't remember ever seeing someone visit it. And through the years, the burial ground that appeared abandoned became even more overgrown with weeds, brush and poison ivy. "I used to pass the cemetery
when I walked to the post office on the comer of Main Street and
Congers Road with my father," said Kepler, an Orange and Rockland utilities employee who joined out a dozen other volunteers from the United Methodist Church of New City in a cleanup yesterday morning. 'The road wasn't as wide, but the cemetery was much better kept up there."
The church volunteers hoped restore the 19th-century cemetery to its original form and make the headstones accessible for the
people in the community whose ancestors may be buried there.
The Rev. Richard Wittig said the congregation wanted to do a
service project in the community. The United Methodist Church is
celebrating its 175th anniversary this year.
Until June, when the town purchased the cemetery, it was still
owned by one of the families that used it.
The most recent owners live in Florida, so this happens," Wittig
said of the run-down condition.
"We noticed it for a long time and said we should do something
about it. It was being neglected." On some of the 14 visible
of the Wood, Stephens and Blauvelt families.
Clarkstown assumed ownership of the cemetery between
West Evergreen and East Evergreen roads on June 26. It was
donated in exchange for town payment of about $2,500 in real estate transaction fees.
The volunteers ignored the chill in the air and got to work at 9
a.m. They wore gloves and used hedge clippers, rakes and hand
saws. They collected leaves, cut branches and ripped out roots.
Vanderbilt Lumber of New City donated use of a heavy-duty brush mower. "You don't feel cold when you work hard," said Maureen Pizzutello of New City, who cut vines that grew around the cemetery's gate. "It feels good to do something for the community."
Ryan Moroni, 12, a seventh-grader at Felix Feats Middle
School, was less enthusiastic. He was helping out because he had to do a service project for his confirmation class.
"It's a mess," Moroni said as he tugged at vines snaked around
some tombstones. Gerry Ekedal, who lived on Elmwood Drive for more than 30 years, said he wasn't aware that a cemetery existed behind the New City Plaza. He volunteered for his church's cleanup, but walked right past it Yesterday morning, instead
heading for another cemetery.

"It'd be interesting to have the stones replaced," said Ekedal,
who now lives in Nyack and has been a member of the church
more than 40 years. "I'm sure there is slot of history and
memories here that would have an impact on this community and touch many peoples' lives." Pat Gallagher of New City said
she was always curious about who owned the cemetery and who was buried there. "In my heart, it makes me think that someday someone will take care of where I'm buried," Gallagher said.

Photos by Susan Magma for The Journal News
Left: Brooke Atzl, 12, of Bardonia, left, and Jeannine Alexandro of New City clean up leaves and weeds in an abandoned cemetery on Congers Road yesterday.

Right: Roy Kepler, uses a chainsaw to cut up a tree branch. The cleanup was conducted as a community service project by members of the United Methodist Church of New City nearby.

Reach Ron X. Gumucio at rgumucio@thejoumalnews.com or
at 845-578-2440.

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