In an effort to have Hill Grove Cemetery in top shape as summer rolls into fall, Stu Adams has scheduled a day of volunteer work on August 27 at the historic cemetery.
“Everything is still in place for Saturday,” said Adams, who has made it his personal mission to improve the cemetery along Snyder Street in Connellsville.
Volunteers will meet at 8 a.m. at the flag pole.
Adams asked volunteers to bring ride-on and push lawn mowers, chainsaws, pruners, rakes, weeders and other gardening and lawn tools.
Water will be provided.
“I’ll try to pack lunch for everyone if it takes that long,” Adams said.
He said poison ivy has been found in parts of the cemetery and suggested volunteers dress appropriately to avoid contact with the plants.
Adams hopes someone will volunteer Saturday to place white survey flags at the graves of former U.S. service members, including two who served in the Revolutionary War and 160 in the Civil War.
He wants to see survey flags replaced with American flags on Memorial Day.
“We have identified a total of 433 veterans in this cemetery,” he said. “Imagine, with 433 American flags, what breathtaking photos you could take.”
Since the restoration effort began, others have joined the cause.
Adams said his son, Hunter, 24, spends two to three hours a day at the site.
Rusty Bruning, neighbor of Stu Adams, and Bill Leighliter many hours at the cemetery.
“A guy from Snyder Street, I don’t know his name, but I see him working, adopted about a quarter of an acre,” Adams said. “The Porterfield family is shutting down and we have half a dozen family groups tending to the graves.”
Everything helped, he says.
“It’s been a world of difference here since last year,” Adams said. “Hopefully the city will see what we do. If enough hands join in the workload will be lighter.
serious problems
When Adams undertook the task last year, the 14-acre site covering parts of Connellsville and Connellsville Township was in terrible condition with tall grass and weeds, fallen and dead trees and toppled headstones .
Worse still, the cemetery council lacked members and money for perpetual care.
Adams discovered the problem while visiting the graves of his wife Nancy’s family members and pledged to make improvements.
Adams plans to conduct two fundraisers.
One will be to raise funds to purchase a riding mower for use by volunteers. The other will be for cemetery upkeep because “the general fund is down to $4,000,” he said.
Adams hopes the cemetery can soon resume selling gravesites as a source of new revenue.
