Gloucester is great but it could be better. It needs to openly address its faults but that isn’t the culture there from what I can see.
So much history has been lost in Gloucester cemeteries due to vandalism and neglect of cemeteries, in Public but more so Private.
Decades of vandalism in Oak Grove Cemetery is well documented in the Sawyer Free Library in case you weren’t aware. Your Mayor knows how I feel as does your Police chief but it keeps getting worse. As a successful Blog owner you have more power and influence then you realize over a communities behavior. Possibly more than your Mayor or Police Chief because you reach more people daily then they do.
So much more economy could be had for Gloucester if cemetery monuments had been preserved or cared for better.
It really saddens me to see all the new vandalism done to headstones in Oak Hill Cemetery. Those people won’t be back to spend the day in Gloucester an eat in a restaurant of stay at an Inn. Why come back after ones loved one’s headstone has been damaged and/or removed because of said needless damage? It leaves a bad taste and a false snap shot of your town.
Personally, I’ve already repaired one of the only ancestors headstones I could find as I found it in three pieces.
It is from 1862 and it can still be easily read except for the cement holding it together. I have three there that can be found and 14 others completely MIA ! It hurts!
Joey, If you choose you could be the voice of reason Gloucester so desperately needs to change this accepted behavior. I’m asking that you photograph or videotape some of what I am describing to you. Take a ride through Oak Hill Cemetery and see the headstone conditions near and on the back hill section . Look at the side and back edges. Especially on the back road where headstones are literally swallowed up and engulfed by eight ft or more of Brambles. You have to look close but they are there hiding underneath.
Write about it ! Get local volunteers that I know would come out in support showing Gloucester’s great spirit. A group effort could easily cut and tame those brambles. Let People know the dead are respected in Gloucester. Get people to show some pride and say this isn’t right and It can’t go on any longer in my town. The Catholic Cemetery assocation is the official caretaker but all I get is shrugged shoulders from the superintendent.
Joey , Please go visit Oak Hill on Poplar St and if you aren’t disgusted about the conditions there you can deny my request to write about it with a free conscience.
With Respect and blunt truthfulness
Mike
"Show me the manner in which a nation or a community cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender sympathies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land and their loyalty to high ideals."
Gladstone.
Good Morning Gloucester 
I agree.. is a real shame and I have noticed that Gloucester has also neglected another treasured site. Dogtown… what a wonderful place but it is not properly protected or managed. Kids on dirt bikes rip through the trails. No one seems to want to take responsibility for policing these places. Where is the responsibility???
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My grandparents are buried in Oak Grove, and I remember when that angel still had a hand and we’d always put a flower in it. That went many years ago. What I don’t get is when did it become acceptable to walk your dog in the cemetery? And not pick it up. I don’t think people appreciate having a dog urinate on your relative’s headstone.
And when was it acceptable to walk your dog in a church yard and not clean it up? The Unitarian Church gets the brunt of it. There should be a hefty fine for people caught allowing their dogs to do this, and any citizen should be able to take a photo of said perp and bring it to the Police Station and file a complaint.
AND, while I’m on this subject — while it may make the dog owner feel saintly by scooping the poop into a bag, leaving it wherever you please really cancels it out. The seagulls think because it’s in a bag it’s a treat and tear it open. Makes no sense.
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Mike, thanks for your letter! I totally agree that Cape Ann’e cemeteries are a valuable, and irreplaceable, part of our heritage. Anyone who takes a look at First Parish burying ground on Centennial Avenue has to weep at the damage caused by generations of vandals. Compare Centennial Avenue with Third Parish in Rockport, which is highly visible and carefully tended, to see the difference. Over the years there have been crews of volunteers with weed-eaters and trash bags, who do what they can, God bless ’em, but the weeds keep growing. Anyway thanks for trying to raise public awareness of the issue.
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Is the Mayor aware? perhaps she has some ideas to help.
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Thank you Mike for all your hard work trying to save our cemeteries. I have just found out that there are many openings on several committees the Cemetery committee is one of them as well as the Planting, Dogtown Committee and of course the Clean City Commission is no longer meeting. I know being on a committee isn’t always the best make of one’s time but it will get like minded people together in one room or in the cemeteries themselves. I would love to help out in any way, perhaps we can make a day where we all meet at the cememtary I live on Myrtle Sq. and talk. GMG is great to get the word out. Thanks again and will be looking forward to hear from you. Patti Amaral Clean City Initiative
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I was thinking the same about the First Parish Cemetery. I wandered through it and was really surprised at the lack of attention it gets. These amazing, old headstones from Gloucester’s first residents are smashed and broken beyond repair, or lost in a sea of weeds, or just plain falling over. It made me a little sad that a treasure like that is now just a spot for kids to go drinking. I would volunteer to help get it back into shape.
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I agree with Mike.As commander of the Disabled American Veterans,we join forces with other veteran groups and place American flags on deceased veterans graves for Memorial Day.It’s appalling the condition of the cemeteries.One cemetery that comes to mind is the one on Centenial ave near the wooden bridge.You can’t even walk through it the grass is so tall.Maybe we should take some of the wind turbine money and fix them up.It is an embarassment to the city.
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My parents are buried at Oak Hill – in a lot first purchased in 1864 by my great-great grandfather. I know the cemetery was well tended for years by St.Ann’s parish. Is that no longer the case.
Fortunately, my parents’ headstone etc.(as well as the others in my family buried in Gloucester) is well looked after by my brothers.
Perhaps families could trace the heritage – find the cemetery and look after a bit of their history and ancestry. Sort of a heritage day exercise a couple of times a year?
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