JHS Historical Cemetery Clean-up Day sweeps up

Volunteers from the award-winning Johnston Historical Society (JHS) were on sacred ground last Sunday.

“According to maps and records from the 1800s, this has always been known as the Indian Burying Ground,” said Steve Merolla, who co-chairs the JHS Cemetery Committee.

So Sunday morning, Merolla – and other dedicated JHS members who volunteer their time cleaning up Johnston’s historical cemeteries – were at the site that’s located on the property at 1010 Hartford Ave., which is also home to non-profit Operation Stand Down.

“As you can see, this area needs lots of work,” Merolla said while adjusting his work gloves to clear fallen tree branches and shrubs. “Our cemetery committee usually works on Sunday mornings, but we’ll be working here at least a couple more weeks due to the fact that it is overgrown.”

The JHS Cemetery Committee, which has worked tirelessly at many of Johnston’s 100 historical cemeteries in recent years, wants the “Indian Burying Ground” to be free from any debris that has piled up there through time.

“This is officially the Johnston Historical Cemetery No. 44,” Merolla said. “A few of the veterans who live at the Operation Stand Down parcel are very appreciative of our efforts and had hope that it would be cleaned up at some point.”

The not-unusual JHS project did, however, have a special significance as the all-volunteer work force dedicated its efforts to the statewide celebration of Historical Cemetery Clean-up Day that was sponsored by the Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission.

As Merolla further pointed out, “We actually know of Native Americans who have relatives that are buried here. However, there are only three marked stones in this cemetery; all the rest are uninscribed fieldstones.”

Merolla and his fellow JHS vols – Arthur Iannelli, Lou McGowan, Pat Macari, Elise Carlson, Doug Stephens and Shar DiMaio – will gladly accept any and all people who’d like to help clean up the Indian Burying Ground that will take place on the successive Sunday morning beginning at 9 or 10 a.m.