Revere burial ground needs at least $75,000 for repairs

REVERE-Hemmed in by homes off Harris Street and worn down by New England weather, the Rumney Marsh burial ground needs at least $75,000 in repair work according to local residents working to find the money.City Veterans Agent Nick Bua and fellow Rumney Marsh Burial Ground Committee members including fund-raising chairwoman Lona Frongillo are sponsoring an evening to benefit the burial ground on Thursday, May 22, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Mottolo Post, 10 Garofolo St.Tickets are $50 and the evening’s prize drawing includes a four-day trip for two to Las Vegas and a $500 second prize.The committee’s goal is to preserve the burial grounds’ four centuries worth of history with help from the city, local businesses and residents.Mayor Thomas Ambrosino and City Councilors led by Ira Novoselsky pledged in January to set aside $15,000 in the city budget for the graveyard’s restoration.Novoselsky hopes that allocation can be matched with city money over the next two years. Novoselsky and Bua said the ground’s pathways and stone walls need attention: The graveyard underwent its last major renovation in 1978.Founded when Revere was still part of Boston, the burial ground is surrounded on three sides by homes and includes the resting places of slaves, Civil War veterans and prominent early North Shore residents.Time and weather have taken their toll on some of the graves while others still retain their finely etched outlines of angels of death and weeping willows.