By David Flint
A major stated purpose of the Stephentown Historical Society is to “endeavor to learn more about our past and preserve evidence of that past.” A big part of that endeavor has always been to strive to protect and preserve some 80 cemeteries and burial grounds scattered about the town. A new Cemeteries Committee was appointed in 2008. So what have they accomplished?
The answer is, quite a bit. The Committee included Linda Sullivan, David Cummings, Marilyn Osgood, Dale Riggs and Pat Flint. They were initially charged with coordinating a survey of conditions in 50 of the town’s burial grounds. Letters were also sent out to the five active town cemetery associations inquiring about their needs. A number of these surveys were completed and returned by various Historical Society members but the bulk of the work was done by Cummings, Sullivan and Osgood who logged many many miles on back roads and trails on Dave’s ATV surveying and documenting each site, photographing stones, obtaining GPS coordinates and installing metal embossed name signs at the cemeteries. In their travels they have also discovered at least three more graveyards that had not been accounted for earlier.
The Committee worked to form partnerships with Boy Scout troops to restore two cemeteries containing the remains of Revolutionary War soldiers, the Denison in North Stephentown and the Stephentown Center Baptist Cemetery on Calvin Cole Road. The latter was also the site of several subsequent cleanups and stone cleaning and repair workshops done in conjunction with the Rensselaer Land Trust and with the expert assistance of Joseph Ferrannini of Gravestone Matters. Ferrannini’s expertise was relied on often, notably in directing gravestone repair work at the Garfield Cemetery and in conducting repair and cleaning workshops at the Presbyterian burial ground on Presbyterian Hill Road where George Holcomb and his family members are buried.
Cummings led two projects that restored two important gravestones to their owners’ resting places after they had sort of gone missing for years. One was the gravestone of blacksmith Isaac Tinley, patriarch of one of the very few early black families in Stephentown. The stone, notable for its lengthy Bible passage, “Hast thou an arm like God…” (Job 40:9-14) on the reverse side, had been placed in the care of the Stephentown Historical Society for safekeeping and it lay on the floor of the Heritage Center for years before the Committee cleaned it and restored it to the spruced up Tinley burial ground. The other missing stone, the beautiful Benjamin Greenman stone with Noah’s Ark etched on it, had for some reason been placed with the Rensselaer County Historical Society and forgotten. Cummings and his team discovered it there, retrieved it and returned the stone of this Revolutionary War soldier to its rightful place in the Greenman Hill Cemetery on Greenman Hill Road. That cemetery was also the site of at least two major cleanup days as it had become overgrown with brush.
Another forgotten cemetery across the road from Greenman, the Tifft Cemetery, had also become overgrown, with the stones barely visible. The local Cub Scouts pitched in to help with this one and two full cleanup days made the burial ground recognizable again.
Again with the aid of the Cub Scouts, and using a heavy duty tripod lifting device designed and built by Cummings, the Committee did major restoration work at the Arnold Cemetery in North Stephentown, including the discovery and restoration of a number of gravestones that had been completely buried in the ground.
Cummings recruited the Cub Scouts yet again to help in the restoration of the monument of Revolutionary War Captain William Douglas in the Stephentown Cemetery on Cemetery Hill Road. The 3½ foot high octagonal spire had years ago toppled from its base and the finial top had broken off. The Scouts carefully cleaned the stone and Cummings expertly reset the base, repaired the monument and reset the spire using his tripod and other special equipment.
The Committee sponsored and led cleanups of a number of other graveyards including the Cranston Cemetery at the top of Cranston Hill Road, the Root Cemetery off of Tayer Road, the two Huntington cemeteries on Garfield Road, the Greenman burial ground on Madden Road and the Wilcox graveyard up on a hillside off of Black River Road.
Cummings, Sullivan and Osgood also spent many days working in the Berry Cemetery in North Stephentown by the Berlin town line. For this work, landowners Carol and Jack Fitzgerald made a sizable donation to the Historical Society.
Many of the graveyard and gravestone photos taken by Committee members were at one time on the Society’s website. Many of them can now be found on Find-A-Grave.
The Society is now seeking volunteers to continue the work of caring for the Town’s historical heritage found in these final resting places.