It has been a while since I reported about this sadly neglected cemetery. Since then, I’ve learned so much more, but still have so many unanswered questions.
My local historical society has been closed on the days that I’ve been off and able to get down there – it is run by one volunteer who can’t spend all of her time there. So, I proceeded to conduct a fairly exhaustive internet search. The only thing that came up matching the location of this sad place, was my own blog post and YouTube video about it. Just when I was about to give up, I made one last-ditch attempt to find it through Google using as many filters as possible. I hit pay dirt about two search pages in and found a link to a USGenWeb web page for the cemetery.
It turns out that this cemetery is called Old Lake Cemetery.* Once upon a time it was kept trimmed and neat, as is evidenced by photographs found on Find A Grave. Many, if not all, of the tombstones have already been photographed and posted on Find a Grave, and those photographs show short grass and clearly visible stones. The article, which is really only a listing of names, on USGenWeb (a free genealogy site) mentions that it was overgrown as of the date of its publication in the year 2000. Yet, the first picture of a headstone in this cemetery at Find a Grave, shows cleared grass in September 2010, ten years late. Just to make sure I was in the right cemetery, I looked up a few stones that I had photographed when I first made the sad discovery and found one of the stones and it matches, exactly the same stone. So I knew then that I was in the right place. So what has happened in the ensuring year? Why is this cemetery neglected yet again?
So, even though I have some answers now, I am left with more questions.
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*the map on the Find A Grave site is wrong – this cemetery is at the intersection of Lake Road and Main Road. Anyone wishing to visit this cemetery should follow map quest directions to Lake Road school, which is located next to this cemetery.
