PEABODY — The Community Preservation Committee voted unanimously to allocate $24,700 for improvements to three of the city’s cemeteries.
Historical Commission Chair Jeff Budd asked the committee to provide funding for the Curtis-Very Cemetery, the Jacobs Family Cemetery, and the South Burying Ground.
The Curtis-Very Family Cemetery was allocated $5,800 for a new fence. The three-rail powder-coated steel fence will be black, 4 feet high, and 73 feet long. It will have an access gate at the front of Lynn Street, according to the project proposal form.
The funds are needed for “the ongoing preservation of one of the city’s historically significant family cemeteries,” Budd said.
The South Burying Ground was allocated $2,200 for new fencing. Budd said the fence at the South Burying Ground has to be replaced because it is “falling apart” due to “years of use.”
“Also, when it was used for a homeless encampment, it really took a beating,” Budd said. “I’m looking to get this up as quickly as possible.”
Budd said that the cemeteries also need new signage indicating that the fencing was funded in part through the Community Preservation Act. He also wants signage stating that people cannot stay overnight at the cemeteries. Committee members said that they might consider using CPA funding for the signage at a future meeting.
Budd said he is hopeful that new signage and improved fencing will “maybe deter” homeless encampments in the future.
The cemetery’s gate will be replaced with a powder-coated steel gate that closely matches the new fence. It will be a commercial-grade, 4-foot-tall gate with adjustable hinges.
The Jacobs Family Cemetery was allocated $16,700, which Budd said is necessary to “reverse years of neglect and inattention to the upkeep of the cemetery property” and “bring the property into compliance with the chosen aesthetic going forward for historic cemeteries in the city.”
The cemetery contains just 10 gravestones, only half of which are currently standing, according to the proposal form.
The new fence will be black and made of 3-rail powder-coated steel. It will be 4 feet high and 316 feet long, with an 8-foot double gate at the front entrance.
The Community Preservation Committee provided Budd with an example of language that would be used on the cemeteries’ signage, stating that the improvements were funded in part through the Community Preservation Act.
Budd said people have offered to donate funds for new signage at all of the cemeteries.
