Our Historic Cemeteries 
Need Some Tender Loving Care

One-hundred and thirty-nine years ago right here in East Greenwich, two little brothers, Willie and Wallie, died of scarlet fever within hours of each other and were both buried in one casket. The little boys lay side by side and hand in hand. As in life, they were not parted. A few years after that, nine of thirteen children in another family died before reaching age twenty. Of the four that survived twenty, one made it to age twenty, one to twenty-five, and the other two did pretty well. In one town graveyard there is a stone marking the death of a ship’s captain lost at sea, his ship going down in an ocean storm. Just a few feet away, a seaman on that ship was also marked with a stone. They rest at sea but their loved ones still mourned and placed markers of their passing.

From the Quakers, servants, and slaves interred under simple unmarked fieldstones to the ornately carved gravestones of the non-Quaker faithful laying their loved ones to rest, the history of the Town of East Greenwich is told as in no other place. The belief was and is that carved in stone makes a permanent marker that someone was here. But as I walk through them, I see that things are not as permanent as they should be. Many stones are toppled, many broken into pieces, victims to the malicious youth who think the momentary macho they gain by kicking it over is worth the permanent insult to our past.

East Greenwich has around 85 graveyards, from those with two or three burials to the large ones with thousands. In each, a story or more. We tend to think of those here a hundred, two hundred years ago as stoic, crusty, and not given to gentle affairs of the heart, but as I walk through our old graveyards I see that nothing is further from the truth. These old stones talk to us, if we take the time, and they tell us that when children die, it was no less heart-wrenching then than that which we’ve experienced recently in Connecticut. The farm families did not have it easy here in the town’s early days. Among the worst experiences they had to face was the loss of their children to consumption, scarlet fever, and flus in great number. We tend to not think of such things because a child born today has a much better chance of reaching a ripe old age, a healthy ripe old age.

Invariably in a town this size, some of the 85 small graveyards are going to fall within eyesight and/or property of new houses today. Placed up in back of farmyards in times past, we have developed up to and around them and it is imperative that they be respected and protected for what they are and represent. As a society, today, we should be past the horrors of superstitious ignorance casting palls over these sacred places in the past. By all means, if you are looking to buy a house and find a small cemetery in the corner of the backyard and it bothers you, don’t buy the house. You cannot move the graveyard. If you fear ghosts and goblins, that place will “haunt” you as long as you live there. 
Far better to let the property go to someone who understands that death is part of life and these places are what our ancestors considered permanent memorials to their loved ones. Respect them as you hope your own will be respected.  Learn the stories of those interred and gain an understanding of what happened where you are long before you got here. Also report any vandalism to me (663-6442). Can’t do much about it but it doesn’t hurt to try.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

If you care to clean up a small cemetery, if you are bothered by the disrespect shown to our past by the neglect of ages, come join us volunteers who are beginning the monumental (pun) task of getting these little gardens tidied and lawned. Winter being what it is, we only got started in the Fall when we had to stop. Come Spring, we’ll be out there with rakes and lawnmowers. There’s great satisfaction looking at what was accomplished on a weekend morning. And you can adopt a graveyard. It can be your own little hobby keeping it trimmed and neat. I have an inventory of them all over town with probably a few right in your area. A little mowing through the summer and a raking in the Fall is all it takes. We, the volunteers, will help you get it under control.

Unless the winter takes a turn for the worse, we might be able to get an early start on a few of the easier cemeteries to get at. I have an email newsletter that will resume when we get going again. It tells which cemetery is getting a sprucing and when and a little history, if I have some. I will have already surveyed the situation and will have a description of what tools will be needed. If you want to be added to the mail list, let me know at bozone@mac.com.There’s much to be done. I have some 20 more to find and check on. We need them monitored at least once a year if no one is keeping them clean. We would also like to assemble a group of burly chaps who would like to repair and upright broken and fallen stones. There are a lot of them. This is an excellent chance to give something back to the community and to pay respect to our ancestors.

The interest in genealogy—the study of family history—is greatly augmented by the access to the graveyards of our town. Now more than ever, it is possible to add a picture of an ancestor’s gravestone to the family book. Because East Greenwich was a place from which the country was settled, the people beneath our soil have descendants all around the country, the world, and they are requesting pictures and information that can only be found right here. It’s time we look at our little cemeteries as a town asset, a collection of museums, and every bit as valuable as the land surrounding them. It’s time we did them proud.—AFC