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Site Projects
There are a few reasons we spend considerable time in a specific site:
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It's local to our homes.
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A direct ancestor or many of them are interred at the location and it's in poor condition.
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Something about the site speaks to one or both of us in a way that keeps drawing us back.
Mount Zion Cemetery, Whitman, MA
Whitman, Massachusetts is known as the home of the Tollhouse cookie. While the Toll House itself no longer stands, its historic sign remains a beacon of times gone by. Mount Zion Cemetery, which is located nearby on Washington Street at the junction of Robert Ave was formerly known as a group of family plots used by some of Whitman's first settlers.
Whitman was originally part of the town of Abington, and known as "Little Comfort." As a burial ground in Plymouth County with markers dating back to 1733 (William Reed - b. 1732 d. 1733), Mount Zion qualifies as a National Historic Site.
In 2022, Leslie began working in Mount Zion with then-president of the Whitman Historical Commission, Marie Lailer, who had been planning for future restoration work. Due to Marie's unfortunate untimely passing that fall, little restoration work has been complete. However, Leslie requested formal permission from the Board of Selectmen in August 2023 and was unanimously granted permission to clean gravestones at Mount Zion.
This cemetery is a labor of love for her as she has learned that she can tie every person in it to her own family tree through the Alden and Brewster families as Ezra Alden was one of the original cemetery proprietors when the site transitioned from its former grouping of family plots to a formal cemetery. There are approximately one thousand graves accounted for, to date. However, several are unmarked and not listed in the directory, and additional markers are located with every visit. She adds them to the directory which she is working on updating. Her trips to the cemetery are on foot since it's .2 miles from her house on Washington Street, built by cemetery resident Luther Poole in 1883.
Site Projects
Lombard Cemetery, West Bath, ME
Formerly part of Georgetown, Maine, Bath separated first from Georgetown in 1781 and then West Bath from Bath in 1844. It is now part of Sagadahoc County and was once part of Lincoln County.
In late 2021, Leslie visited the Historical Society in neighboring Phippsburg and learned that Maine is very different from Massachusetts in its cemetery trends. The Phippsburg Historical Society welcomed her to their organization, assisted her with research on her family's origin, and even stayed on the phone with her while she navigated the back roads of Maine where no GPS system would remain connected.
The trip brought to light some incredible facts about her family history including the story of a marriage forbidden by the groom's father but unfortunately for him, he arrived at the wedding a few minutes too late. The ancestors she visited in Maine during this trip were largely veterans of the American Revolution...dozens of them. This wasn't something her immediate family knew about. It seemed they had lost that part of their lineage.
One particular family group was buried in West Bath at Lombard Cemetery on Berry's Mill Road. To find it, she reached out to the West Bath Historical Society for directions. With their expert assistance, she learned that it is across from Millstone Road and if you park there (thank you to the neighbors who allow us to park in their driveway!) and cross the street, the pile of wood is a telltale marker which will point you to where to walk into the woods. There are no signs or indicators that there is a cemetery present. It is about 500 yards deep into the woods. If it's hunting season: wear orange.
Within Lombard Cemetery are 5th great grandparents William and Charlotte (Sprague) Mitchell and his parents, 6th great grandparents Jonathan and Keziah (Libby) Mitchell. Many of the markers at Lombard were nearly black due to its forest location. Most of them had not been photographed and it was difficult to do so initially because of their condition. After requesting permission to clean them, Leslie has made several trips to Lombard, has cleaned every stone, and has photographed them in multiple phases. It turns out, some of the markers are actually white.
It won't be possible to keep Lombard in a perpetually clean state, due to it's location (it's three hours away and in the woods) and the continual cost of D2 that would be needed to do so. However, by getting each marker cleaned up and to a state where it's readable for a one-time photo will allow history to be preserved.
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