Wyandotte Students Team Up to Clean Up Landmark

One of the oldest historical sites in Wyandotte was abuzz with activity Saturday morning as about 50 members of the Science Club and the varsity football team worked together to help clean up .

The cleanup was organized by Michael White, a science teacher at Wilson and the faculty adviser for the school’s science club. He has been bringing students to the cemetery once or twice a year since 1994, when he was a science teacher at Roosevelt.

“I was teaching physical and environmental science and I was looking for a place that had ponds,” White said. “I knew about the railroad tracks, but I couldn’t take the students there. That’s when one of my students suggested Oakwood Cemetery."

At the time, White said, there were two huge ponds within the cemetery that were teeming with frogs, toads and other wildlife. Unfortunately, the area is a cemetery and not a wildlife preserve. White knew that while the ponds were great educational resources, they meant that there were graves that were underwater.

That’s when the cleanup efforts started.

Since then, students, teachers, players and coaches have gathered to pick up trash, remove limbs and branches, clean along the cemetery’s fence lines and repair the occasional toppled tombstone.

“The cemetery board appreciates it,” White said. “They’ve been very gracious about letting us come in to help.”

According to the Oakwood Cemetery Association, the cemetery is the oldest in Wyandotte and one of the oldest throughout Downriver. It dates back to 1826 when John Clark, the earliest American settler of the region, buried his daughter Katherine on a hill overlooking the Detroit River. The cemetery went from a private family cemetery to a public burial place in 1869, but as long as 100 years ago, there were documented stories about the grounds not being maintained.

White and his army of volunteers are hoping to turn that long-running trend around.

Jonathan Koss of Wyandotte, a seventh-grader at Wilson, was one of those who traded a warm bed and pillow for a pair of gloves and a garbage bag Saturday morning. He said it was the thought of community service–and maybe a little prompting by his mom and dad–that brought him to the cleanup event.

“I just love the community and I’d do anything I could to help out,” Koss said. “Plus, my parents wanted me out of the house for a little bit. It’s been fun. It helps that my friends are here.”

For Wyandotte’s Tyler Hamilton, the morning out also is about helping and being with friends, specifically his Bear teammates.

“I like the idea of making the oldest spot in Wyandotte a little cleaner and being able to help out,” said Hamilton, a 17-year-old junior at Roosevelt. “To be honest, with the team out here, it’s more like a family thing. It doesn’t even feel like work.”

The event is one of several the football team will participate in over the course of a year as part of its Bear Olympics, a competition to foster teamwork and community service. This was the sixth year members of the football team have been part of the cleanup.

Next year, White said, in addition to the regular cleanup of the cemetery grounds, he’s hoping to be able to revamp the weather-beaten sign that sits along the cemetery’s western boundary facing Biddle Avenue.

Anyone wanting more information about Oakwood Cemetery or wishing to make a donation to assist with its upkeep can contact The Oakwood Cemetery Association, P.O. Box 553, Wyandotte, MI  48192.