The Bay View Cemetery, circa 1728, is being restored through the funding of two Community Preservation Act contracts and volunteers.
The CPA contracts pay for the restoration and preservation of gravestones by a professional restorer Rob Surabian of Gravesite Preservation. The contracts also are for in-kind work from the Department of Public Works and cemetery volunteers.
In-kind work by cemetery volunteers includes the cleaning of the restored stones on Wednesdays from 5:30-7 p.m. Volunteers, including children 10 and older if they come with a parent, are welcome to help, according to Christine Maney of the Gloucester DPW Cemeteries Committee.
The cleaning of stones will end Nov. 1 and restart next spring, Maney said in an email.
“Currently, I am waiting to hear the outcome for a third CPA application (2024) for the restoration of the last section of Bay View Cemetery,” Maney said.
Bay View Cemetery is the city’s third oldest cemetery and is located between 903 and 919 Washington St.
The city of Gloucester is responsible for 13-city owned cemeteries and volunteer work is critical to their upkeep.
Maney said she’s still looking for more City-Owned Cemeteries Advisory Committee volunteers to help out on this and future projects. The committee’s mission is to preserve, rehabilitate, and restore the many threatened historical grave sites as well as the public landscapes in Gloucester’s city-owned cemeteries.
More information on volunteering in the city’s cemeteries is available by contacting Christine Maney at gloucestercemeteries@yahoo.com.