Revere’s Rumney Burial Ground revival under way

REVERE – The wind stirs up leaves in the Old Rumney Marsh burial ground that scour gravestones embedded with names all but erased by the passage of centuries.The final resting spot for 150 people is hemmed in by homes bordering Butler Street. They stand huddled in clumps or rise stubbornly from the roots of trees.A stone memorializing Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Charles Bibber occupies one corner of the graveyard. The unmarked graves of slaves occupy another and a third side is lined with a row of simple stones marking the graves of other Civil War veterans from Revere.The cemetery’s grounds and walls underwent their last major renovations in 1978 and Ward 2 City Councilor Ira Novoselsky says the time has come to spruce Rumney up again.With the help of Veterans Agent Nicholas Bua and local history lovers, Novoselsky is mapping out a plan to fix up the burial ground, beginning with a $15,000 allocation in next year’s budget.He and Bua estimate the total cost to repair the burial ground’s walls and damaged markers and to remove “weed trees” that sprouted between the graves is $70,000 to $100,000.”We’re talking about doing this over a three year period working from the inside out. We don’t expect anything to take place until next year,” Novoselsky said.The burial ground’s history spans four centuries from 1654, when the first land transaction preceding its creation occurred, to the last burial in 1929.The graves are mute testaments to lives common and acclaimed. Time and weather have worn names and life spans carved into soft white stone into indecipherable blurs. The scrolled letters engraved in hardier gray stone markers mourn lives cut short in an era of rudimentary medicine.The plainly carved Civil War graves bear the names of veterans and the Union regiments they served in. Bibber is buried under an unadorned marker in Everett’s Woodlawn Cemetery but his Revere residency prompted City Clerk John Henry and others to dedicate the memorial honoring him.Novoselsky said Butler and Harris Street residents help police keep teenagers from loitering in the burial ground and making mischief.He said the burial ground’s inclusion on the National Historic Register three years ago will make it easier for the city to obtain grants to help pay for Rumney’s repairs.”It’s been neglected for many, many years,” he said.