Gilman Road Cemetery Gets a Facelift
45 volunteers showed up to work on a hot August day to repair, straighten and clean stones in a 19th Century Hinesburg graveyard.
The Record Staff
On a beautiful Saturday morning, Aug. 16, 45 volunteers from Hinesburg and members of the Vermont Old Cemetery Association from all over the state, worked for over four hours repairing, straightening and cleaning headstones at the Gilman Road Cemetery. The throng included college students and young children, burly 20-somethings and enthusiastic 70-year-olds.
(Eavesdrop as the crew rebuilds enormous graver marker in digital story below:)
(NOTE: The digital story above are photos and sound of the work on the final headstone of the day — a multiple piece, 5’ high marker that had been pushed over.)
The The Hinesburg Cemetery Association supplied snacks and beverages, cleaning tools and sprays, shovels and bars and VOCA brought stone saws, expoxy and clamps and a whole lot of knowledge.
In all 75 stones were repaired and/or straightened and 150 stones were cleaned, exposing to view the names and histories of the ancestors who reside there. The first person buried at cemetery — which is no longer in use — was CPT Isaac Bostwick, born 1730 in Connecticut and died 1808 in Hinesburg. A total of 175 people are buried there and only four in the 1900s. Forty-two of those buried were under the age of 18.
Another Bostwick buried in the cemetery is Erastus Bostwick, who, with his two brothers walked from New Milford, CT, on 24 May 1790 and arrived in Hinesburg on June 1, covering a distance of 200 miles. Erastus served the town of Hinesburg in multiple capacities, as town representative, postmaster, justice of the peace, town clerk and town treasurer.
The Hinesburg Cemetery Association extended its thanks to everyone who helped out, particularly Thomas Giffin, president of VOCA, who brought a whole crew with him from the Rutland area. In addition, a number of businesses and organizations donated supplies and refreshments to the day:
Vermont Old Cemetery Association for its expertise and volunteers,
Hinesburg Sand & Gravel for the stone,
Aubuchon Hardware for the sprayers, scrapers and brushes,
KinneyDrugs for the drinking water and brushes,
Stewart’s Mobil for coffee,
VT Smoke & Cure for the meat sticks,
Lantman's Store for the refreshments,
Joe Bissonette for hauling the stone and opening fence,
Steve Aube for the use of his water tank,
Peter Hiser for the use of his meadow,
Hinesburg Fire Department for filling the tank,
And all of you who volunteered.
(Photos by Mary Jo Brace, the Record’s bookkeeper and chair of the Hinesburg Cemetery Association; Geoffrey Gevalt; and Heather Simmons.)