Fort Ann urged to take cemetery By BILL TOSCANO FORT ANN — The future of an abandoned cemetery that includes Revolutionary War veterans hinges on the Town Board’s willingness to step in, according a woman who has been working to save the site, which is now part of a cow pasture. “I cannot tell you how many people have said, ‘We would be glad to help once we know the town is behind it,’” Debbie Camarota of Friends of Blossom Farm Cemetery told the Town Board last week. Camarota formally asked the town to take control of the half-acre site on Route 22 in Comstock that is on a farm owned by Ray Wilson. “The community is watching and waiting to see if the town of Fort Ann will accept the responsibility,” she said. “We cannot let our town’s founding members remain in the place they are now. ... If we don’t get going now, it’s all going to be lost forever.” According to state law, individuals cannot own cemeteries, and if a cemetery is abandoned, the responsibility for maintenance, including a fence, falls to the town. Camarota showed the board the deeds for the land, which go back to one of her ancestors, Shubael Mason, in 1822 and connects to Wilson, who took ownership from another relative in 1998. The deeds refers to the land running “up to the burying ground,” establishing that a cemetery did exist. Camarota, who is working with Nancy Moore and several others in researching the cemetery, said Wilson has agreed the town should take over the small piece of land, but she noted that Wilson will retain a 30-foot strip so his cows can get to their back pastures. “Is it his to give to us, and does that matter?” Supervisor Darlene Dumas asked. “By cemetery law, he probably does not own it, but no one else does,” Camarota said. “At some point, many years ago, the state changed the law saying an individual cannot own a cemetery, and no one ever said to Ray, his father or grandfather that the law got changed.” Cows walked on the cemetery site for many years, and while there are some headstones there, many have apparently been broken or moved. “If you make it a cemetery, we will take care of it,” Camarota said. “The cost to the town is minimal.” In a presentation Monday, Camarota asked the town to reclaim the section of land and also asked for $900 for a land surveyor and $580 in attorney’s and filing fees. “We would take it from there,” she said. “That’s all we are looking for.” Camarota said the group already has $600 in its accounts and has been talking to possible donors. She said the Friends of Blossom Farm Cemetery plans to fence in the site, put up a sign and a flagpole and restore the headstones. Board member Howard Denison said the town understands its responsibility in the matter and wondered if it could be resolved in other ways, such as the town building the fence and the volunteer group taking other responsibilities. Dumas told Camarota that she would be in touch on the matter. According to research done by the historical group, the first burials were in 1794, and the last was in 1849. A book about cemeteries in Fort Ann lists 28 people as having been interred, and the group has found three others. The names of the others buried there are not known. Camarota also presented research she said showed there was not a church at the site.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 11:17:29 +0000
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