By Jason Emerson
Editor
A long-forgotten cemetery in Erieville has been brought back to life by members of the Erieville Nelson Heritage Society.
After about three years of cleaning and clearing the 200-by-190-foot Temple Cemetery at the Erieville Reservoir dam, members of the society recently dedicated a new sign commemorating those buried there between the years 1812 and 1848.
While the headstones from the cemetery were removed nearly a century ago with their whereabouts unknown, 10 stones were recently discovered and one — of a Revolutionary War veteran — was returned to the site as part of the sign dedication ceremony.
“The cemetery is one of those places that has been forgotten about,” said Laine Gilmore, town of Nelson co-historian. “Our interest peaked in the cemetery when we started poking around and cleaning it up. It was obvious when we started this was a place where people had partied for years because of all the beer cans and trash. We figured this is sacred land that doesn’t deserve to be a dump.”
The new Temple Cemetery sign, dedicated on Oct. 21, was created and donated to the society by Nelson resident Bernardo Jaquez, of Everlasting Signs and Lights. The names of the 23 people known to be buried in the cemetery are listed on the sign, along with a brief history of the site.
During the dedication, attended by about a dozen people, Kevin Westcott, pastor of Lincklaen Community Church, did the re-consecration of the ground; Gilmore read the names of the people buried there, as well as any biographical information about them that could be find; and the sign was officially unveiled by Nelson co-historian Fay Lyon and ENHS member Jim Georges.
The Temple Cemetery contains some of the earliest burials in the hamlet and was connected to the Temple schoolhouse and church, which had also once stood in that spot. Burials in the cemetery stopped in 1848 because of the building of the Erieville Reservoir, Gilmore said.
While the society members were preparing for the sign installation and dedication, an act of “serendipity” occurred in early September that led to the discovery of 10 of the original missing headstones in the cemetery.
Local lore stated that the cemetery stones were removed sometime in the 1930s or 40s and were probably used to line wells for Erieville homes. When society members started spreading the word recently that they were seeking the stones, they got a tip that some may be at a particular house in Erieville. ENHS member Jim Georges investigated and, although the stones were not there, workers on site suggested he try the house next door.
When Georges was able to talk to the owner a few days later, he explained about the headstones the society was seeking. “The man gets a funny look on his face and says, ‘Come here I have something to show you,’ and in the side yard were 10 grave stones laying there,” Gilmore said.
It turned out, the man had recently had to replace his sceptic tank, and the contractor doing the work hit stone, took a look, and “immediately realized it was something special,” Gilmore said. “Rather than risk breaking the stones, he dug them all out by hand.”
Members of the society went over to the house after Georges discovery and compared the names on the five stones that were readable to the known burial names in Temple Cemetery, and they were a match. After some research, it was discovered the man’s sceptic tank had been installed probably in the 1930s, right when the cemetery headstones were rumored to have been removed, she said.
“Jim just knocking on the door opened up whole new story,” Gilmore said.
The 10 headstones were acquired by the society and are currently in storage, but Gilmore said the group hopes one day to replace the stones in the cemetery.
One stone, however, did make its way back for the Oct. 21 dedication — the headstone for Revolutionary War veteran Samuel Salisbury. Salisbury, a native of Massachusetts, served as a private in the Massachusetts militia during the Revolution. He was one of the early settlers of Erieville, coming to Nelson from Bennington, Vt., in 1802 with his wife Sarah Haile. He died in Erieville on Jan. 25, 1835, at age 90.
“It was really the clearest headstone of the 10,” Gilmore said. “It’s really special.”
The ENHS hopes to not only return the 10 headstones to the cemetery, but to also put a bench or two on the site.
“It’s a pretty neat place,” Gilmore said. “It’s really cool it’s there because it has been forgotten for so long and now hopefully people can go in there … it’s a really peaceful place. I don’t think anybody deserves to be forgotten”
How to find Temple Cemetery: Park in the parking area at the intersection of Hardscrabble and Erieville roads. Walk up along the path (formerly called “Dam Road”) a few hundred feet until you come to the benches along dam, look northwest and you will see the sign. The cemetery is behind the sign.
