NH town to move 3 dozen graves from eroding cemetery
ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) — Residents of a New Hampshire town voted to move the remains of around three dozen people from a cemetery that is eroding into a river.
In a secret ballot last week, residents of Stark voted 34 to 1 to discontinue Blake Cemetery as a town cemetery and move the remains of the people buried there — including Revolutionary War and Civil War soldiers — to another cemetery, the Caledonian Record reported.
The cemetery, which dates back to the beginning of the 19th century, is on a bluff overlooking the Upper Ammonoosuc River. The ground has eroded, toppling headstones into the water and exposing human remains.
In May, photos of the erosion on social media caught the attention of the state’s attorney general’s office, which wrote to the town board of selectmen that they are required to fund the maintenance of town cemeteries.
The town is now paying $150,000 to a local excavating company and Independent Archaeological Consulting of Portsmouth to complete the work, the newspaper reported.