Beard/Bachtell Cemetery Cleanup

On November 13, 2021 several members of the Coalition (Eileen McGuckian, Tina Simmons, and Dennis Green) met with Christina Bloom to help clean up the Beard-Bachtell cemetery located in Smithburg, Washington County. A dumpster was provided which was filled to the brim with saplings from inside the cemetery. The weather provided as much of a challenge as the cemetery, giving us samples of cold, rain, high winds, and, eventually sun. We were joined in our work by Christina’s brother, Landon Grove and a couple other relatives. Christina’s great-grandfather is buried there and they worked to try to right his headstone while we were there. Although we were able to make great headway in removing small trees and uncovering many of the 40+ headstones, there is still more work to be done. There is still a lot of ground cover, animal burrows to fill in, stones to be re-set, and capstones secured at the top of the stone wall. We look forward to continuing to offer recommendations to the local community in their efforts to care for this cemetery.

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