Officials look to retrieve missing Marblehead cemetery headstones

MARBLEHEAD – Town officials are hoping that they can find a few of the Old Burial Hill?s two dozen missing gravestones.That?s one of the issues that turned up when Old Burial Hill Committee Chairman Zeke Peach and Town Planner Becky Curran gave selectmen an overview of their preservation master plan for the town?s earliest cemetery, which includes photos of each grave marker and calls for pro-active ground maintenance and some serious repairs.The downtown burial area is rich in local history. The first burial there was recorded in 1681 and many of the town?s Revolutionary War soldiers are among the nearly 1,000 Marbleheaders buried there.Of the 991 grave markers, 20 percent – 198 – need some form of repair. Arlington consultants surveyed the burial ground under a grant provided by the Massachusetts Historical Commission and identified 37 markers that urgently need repair, 42 more whose need was described as “less urgent” and 119 that need some lesser repairs.In the 12 years since the last survey 22 gravestones have gone missing.Curran said the committee is meeting with other town officials to describe their plans and continues to seek grant funding to cover the cost of repairs.They are also seeking private donations – and “We are continuing our efforts to locate the missing stones,” she said.Selectman William Woodfin suggested that the committee seek donations from funeral directors. He recalled the dismay of his late father, former Cemetery Superintendent Ben Woodfin, when Woodfin discovered that a new stone walkway at Old Burial Hill was actually made of gravestones that had been turned face down into the dirt.When Woodfin asked if Redd?s Pond had been searched for gravestones, Town Historian Bette Hunt said the late Virginia Gamage once organized a search of the pond, but it only turned up “a few tiny pieces” of grave markers.