Rotarians and friends spruce up Pottersville cemetery

POTTERSVILLE | Motorists driving past a historic cemetery in northern Pottersville in recent weeks may have noticed that the hallowed one-acre plot is more orderly and stately. This is due to the work of a half-dozen members of the Chestertown Rotary Club and several local volunteers who are working to clean, repair, preserve and re-set the 400 or so gravestones in the Pottersville Rural Cemetery. The project was launched by Chris Aiken, a Rotarian and a Chester Town Board member. He said Sept. 3 that more people are welcome to join the volunteer crew that works on the gravestones each Thursday morning for a few hours — and those interested in joining the effort are encouraged to call him at 518-796-3423. As of Sept. 3, about 50 of the gravestones in the cemetery have been renewed. Aiken, a Pottersville resident, initiated the project out of concern for the gravestones, many of which had been broken or overturned by vandals — or merely blackened by lichen growth or other natural causes. He researched biological agents that would remove the natural contaminants and erase the stains and then strategized the renovation project. Also, he consulted with local resident Donny Cooper, who accomplished a lot of similar work in the Darrowsville Cemetery, located south of Chestertown off Route 9. Chestertown Rotary and the Chester Town Board got behind the effort, and seven or so local people got to work, renovating the gravestones — scrubbing them down, gluing them back together, and re-situating them so they stood upright. The town of Chester bought the materials, Rotarian John Nick provided a power washer, town employees delivered water to the site, and the volunteers got to work scrubbing the gravestones, while others chiseled off the old adhesive and applied specialized epoxy to fix up the broken ones. Town Board member Karen DuRose said the project was a fulfilling enterprise for her and the other volunteers. "This is a long-overdue project that really needed to be accomplished," she said. "Some of the gravestones date back to the 1600s, and were really a mess." Chestertown Rotary Past President Nan Williams said working on the project made her feel a profound connection with local history. The cemetery is located across state Route 9 from Pottersville's Christ Church. "Reading the inscriptions while cleaning the gravestones, you think about the deceased — and get a feeling for the lives of these people back in the 1800s or earlier," she said. In addition to the aforementioned people, working on the project were Rotary Club President Deborah Eves, Mary Ann Krupsky, and Chester Town Supervisor Craig Leggett. DuRose, who read the names and dates on various gravestones and then contacted local historian Donna LaGoy to research the lives of the deceased, said the project was important to the community, as well as offering her a glimpse into life in the area long ago. "This project shows the willingness of local people to work together to preserve the history of our town," she said.

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Rotarians and friends spruce up Pottersville cemetery

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