Inquirer article on MM

Written by John Ellingsworth

Wednesday, 07 July 2004

The Inquirer has printed Ed Colimore's article in the Sunday, May 25, 2003 edition; you can read the article here: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/5942993.htm. Our meeting w/Ed Colimore, Staff Writer, Philadelphia Inquirer I think we are all going to be very happy to read the article that Ed is going to write about MM. He seemed as shocked and dismayed by what he saw, as many of us have, and he was given the full tour. Eric & Andy, knowledgable as they are about MM, were able to give Ed an incredible amount of detail about the historic aspects of MM and their dealings with the management. Along with another pair who have relatives buried in MM, we reiterated our experiences, our concerns, and our hopes for the future. Ed brought a photographer (forgive me for forgetting his name) who took a number of photos. The dumping, the overgrown weeds, the dogs, the management, the pitiful roads - if this article doesn't raise an eyebrow in this city, nothing will! I know that the article Ed will write WILL be an incredible eye opener for many folks in the Philadelphia area, and hopefully, along with the great news Lydia posted about Rep Williams reply, we will see some improvements/changes at MM! I am sure Eric has more to say, and maybe Andy, too, but I just wanted to let you know I felt that this will be the kind of opportunity that will stimulate some change! Carpe diem! Here is the text of the article: Neglected tributes By Edward Colimore Inquirer Staff Writer Down a narrow winding lane, beneath low-hanging tree limbs and waist-high grass, were the remains of a gutted bathroom - scattered pipes, broken plaster and tiles. Somewhere in this forlorn corner of Mount Moriah Cemetery in Southwest Philadelphia was a burial plot of Civil War soldiers, members of the Grand Army of the Republic once hailed as heroes. Now, they and other soldiers, including Medal of Honor recipients, and some of the city's most powerful people, lie near discarded tires, rugs and toppled gravestones. "This is the final resting place for many famed people - military and civilian," said Anthony Waskie, 56, a Temple University assistant professor and Northern Liberties resident, who waded through grass and poison ivy to clean trash from a stone marker for Union troops. " . . . If we neglect the dead, what does that say about our civilization?" Mount Moriah, established in 1855, is one of scores of historic cemeteries across the region and the country that are monumental eyesores in the changing communities around them. Their operators say they cannot pay the massive upkeep for perpetual care of older graves and do not have enough money from new burials to take care of their sprawling necropolises. As cemeteries become neglected, they attract vandals, who knock over stones and cover mausoleums with graffiti, and become the scenes of illegal dumping, thefts, armed robberies, prostitution, even murder. At Mount Moriah, a body was found in the trunk of a burning Cadillac last year, a 22-year-old Darby man was found shot to death near the cemetery the same year, and prostitutes have used areas around the site. At Montgomery Cemetery in Norristown, dozens of gravestones - even a tall obelisk - have been knocked down, and grass and weeds obscure many markers. The mausoleum of Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, a hero of Gettysburg and presidential candidate, had been struck by vandals in the past and is now surrounded by a high chain-link fence. And at Evergreen Cemetery and New Camden Cemetery in Camden, and Jordantown Cemetery in Pennsauken, thick vegetation and trash cover the grounds where many headstones have been broken or knocked down. Schoolchildren regularly take a shortcut through Evergreen and pass a sign at an abandoned gatehouse that displays an address for drugs. A crushed portable toilet lies on its side a few feet away. "This is a problem that deserves a lot more attention," said Bob Fells, external chief operating officer and general counsel for the International Cemetery and Funeral Association, representing 6,000 cemeteries, funeral homes and crematories. "Some 19th-century cemeteries were in business before perpetual care was established," Fells said. "Now, all 50 states require that all who sell property for burial space to the public must deposit a portion of the sale price - 10 to 15 percent - into an irrevocable trust fund that can be used for the care of that site and the whole cemetery." Such funds were not as crucial in the 19th century and part of the 20th, when people often lived and died in the same community and had a tradition of tending their ancestors' graves and leaving flowers. "They would visit every week and trim the grass and straighten the stone," said Fells. "As Americans became more mobile, that whole era started changing. Older sections of cemeteries - predating the trust funds - became overgrown and looked bad." Richard Berry, receiver for the bankrupt Evergreen Cemetery in Camden, said neglected cemeteries have become "a national problem, absolutely." Making matters worse, he said, some of their operators have abandoned them when they couldn't make money. "When a cemetery goes bankrupt, who is going to buy it?" he asked. "We have cemeteries that stay in disrepair all over the state and country. . . . It's just a horrible nightmare." Debra Jerome, office manager at Mount Moriah, acknowledges severe problems at the 380-acre cemetery - astride the border between the city and Yeadon - and said she is doing the best she can with limited staff and resources. She has 11 groundskeepers. "We have an ongoing battle with vandalism and dumping in the neighborhood," said Jerome. "The kids think it's a joke to push the stones over. In the winter, they sleigh-ride here. I talk to them, and the cops talk to them, and they are back five minutes later." The problems at Mount Moriah have prompted an uproar from families across the country - from Michigan, Arizona, Virginia and other states - whose ancestors are buried there. After being contacted by The Inquirer and one of his constituents this month about the conditions of the cemetery, State Sen. Anthony Williams, a Democrat whose Eighth District includes Mount Moriah, sent a letter Thursday to the court of quarter sessions of Philadelphia County asking it to require the management to "improve the condition of this property, and better secure it from crime occurrences." His letter said those buried there "deserve more honor than has been afford them by the neglect allowed at Mt. Moriah Cemetery." State investigators also have been checking complaints about the facility. Pennsylvania's state real estate commission and New Jersey's state cemetery board oversee the private for-profit and nonprofit cemeteries. About 40 other states have similar agencies. States can revoke or suspend operating licenses or fine operators. Religious, fraternal and municipal cemeteries are generally exempt from oversight. During a visit to the Southwest Philadelphia cemetery this month, Waskie and members of the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery - an organization formed to help preserve the site's history - paid their respects to James Thompson. The Union soldier once rushed out under heavy fire to rescue a badly wounded comrade during the Battle of Gettysburg. This month, a tree fell and lay shattered across the road leading to Thompson's grave, which was overgrown with weeds and poison ivy. Nearby, high grass partially obscured the headstones of Mary A. Brady, a tireless nurse who treated countless wounded troops during the Civil War, and Capt. Sylvester H. Martin, who received the Medal of Honor for making a "most dangerous reconnaissance" at Weldon Railroad, Va., in 1864. A member of the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery, Eric Schmincke, 43, of Northeast Philadelphia, said the cemetery holds about 5,000 veterans. "We need to raise the consciousness of people," said Schmincke, whose four-wheel-drive Jeep got stuck on rolls of discarded carpets along one lane leading to the vandalized obelisk of Col. William "Buck" McCandless, who fought in many Civil War battles, losing an arm from one wound. Neglect and financial problems were also evident at Montgomery Cemetery. "We are limited by the amount of money available," said Charles Kelly, a member of the Historical Society of Montgomery County, which owns the cemetery. "The cemetery was doomed by the start of the 20th century. The families of the people buried there were dying off or moving away. There's no income. We pay to cut the grass four times a year. We're trying to figure out a long-term plan." In Camden, Evergreen Cemetery, at Ferry and Mount Ephraim Avenues, the top of a sarcophagus at a grave had been pushed to one side, and a plot of Civil War soldiers marked by an obelisk was overgrown. The cemetery went bankrupt six years ago, and its operation was taken over by the receiver, Richard Berry. "We have prisoners come in to cut the grass once every month or two, but how long does that last before it's long again?" said Berry. "Somebody will ultimately have to take over responsibility for the cemetery." Across Mount Ephraim Avenue - at the adjacent New Camden Cemetery - conditions weren't much better. The cemetery has only about $15,000 in its trust fund, enough for three or four grass cuts a year. The city's Public Works crew, Camden County inmates, and parolees tend the cemetery, which holds many Civil War veterans. "Camden has some eyesores - 5,000 vacant houses and 200 vacant lots - because of the lack of personal responsibility," said Roberto Feliz, Public Works director. "We are so busy taking care of other people's negligence, we can't take care of the city's properties. "The cemetery is like a vacant lot - but it requires more delicate maintenance. You can't just send a tractor in there. You practically have to go in with a weed whacker. You need a caretaker. A couple years ago, we found a dead goat in there that was part of some ritual." At Jordantown Cemetery - last resting place for 38 African American troops of the Union army - grass was tall, stones were turned over, and saplings grew from some of the burial plots. Most of the troops in the Pennsauken cemetery - dating back to the 1840s - were privates in various companies; one of them served with the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, whose story was told in the movie Glory. Though many of the descendants of those interred in 19th-century cemeteries across the country have moved to other states and forgotten the graves, some still visit the burial plots. Brian Pohanka, 48, a historian and author of Civil War books who lives in Alexandria, Va., said he pays an annual fee to Mount Moriah to maintain the grave of his great great grandparents. "I have been curious about how a nicely manicured cemetery, with prominent Philadelphians, could degenerate into a jungle and place of vandalism," he said. "It's a disgrace."

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 November 2005 )

 

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