Fixing Bethany's Broken Cemeteries

Preserving Bethany’s history is always top priority for Town Historian Will Brinton, so last month he presented a slideshow to the to bring awareness to the level of disrepair in the town’s cemeteries. The board quickly recognized the extent of the problem and asked Brinton to research how they could best address the problem. Brinton rolled up his sleeves and got to work, and this past Monday he arrived at the BOA meeting armed with names, numbers and multiple versions of various plans to preserve the town’s historic graveyards.

There are six cemeteries in Bethany, but the town only handles maintenance for four of them. Brinton presented multiple options for repairing the leaning, fallen and broken stones, each possiblility ranging dramatically in price and options. He also detailed information about how other area towns address maintenance of their cemeteries, as well as how they fund it.

The plan that drew the most interest from the board would repair the leaning and broken stones for $6,000. However, Bethany has no line item in the budget for cemetery maintenance to begin the project.

According to the first selectman’s assistant, June Riley, about $45,000 is available in the Carrington Cemetery endowment fund, and it’s been years since it was touched since annual plot sales have always covered expenses. Board members said it was unclear whether or not the endowment was exclusively for the use of Carrington Cemetery, or if it could be used to maintain the other graveyards.

“I’ve looked through old meeting notes and records,” Riley said, “and I’ve never been able to find anything about the endowment.”

Town Attorney Kevin McSherry said he would research the situation, and by the end of the meeting said he believed he had found a way that would help the town legally access the funds to do the repairs on the cemeteries without having to introduce the project to the annual budget process.

The BOA also discussed how they could address future needs of the town’s burial grounds so they don't fall into disrepair again once they are fixed. Funding will be crucial to this process, and with the cost of burial plots currently at $400 compared to a minimum of $600 in neighboring towns, they agreed to consider raising the price. Also, while Carrington is the only graveyard in town that is actively selling new plots, the Old Methodist cemetery has available unused land. The board members asked Brinton if he could research the price of having it surveyed so the town could begin selling plots in that burial ground, as well. Brinton agreed to continue working on the project.

“I want to have my research done,” he said. “I don’t want to miss another budget year.”