Volunteers Liberate Historic Cemeteries from Years of Overgrowth

Members of the East Greenwich Historic Cemetery Commission and a group of volunteers brought out a chainsaw and machete and chopped, cut and carved their way through dense brush and weeds to clean up a pair of historic cemeteries recently.

On June 20, a the group cleaned up historic cemeteries 4 and 10 in the McPartland subdivision.

Member Jason Beaumier said that the cemeteries were “completely inaccessible upon arrival, but after a few hours of work, the cemeteries are now accessible and many finely preserved stones were discovered.”

This was the last of the commission’s spring cleanups and will focus on administrative issues over the summer. Cleanups will resume in the fall and anyone interested in joining the effort is welcome. Send an email to egcemeteryvolunteer@gmail.com for more info.

“A big thank you to the volunteers that turned out, especially David Imbriglio for the use of his chainsaw and machete. We could not have done it without all of you,” the commission said in a release.

The East Greenwich Historic Cemetery Advisory Commission was formed in December 2013 and is tasked with restoring and rehabilitating the 91 area historic cemeteries, amongst other duties, including raising public awareness. Consisting of five members appointed by the Town Council we are happy to serve the town and look forward to future cleanups and to continue the process of getting these cemeteries back into the condition they belong.

Check out the last three photos to see what things looked like before the group got deep into the weeds.