Volunteers On Mission To Preserve Forgotten Waltham Cemetery
WALTHAM (CBS) - Annie McMullen has been busy digging up the past. "This one you can barely see and this is how I started. We just use our foot at beginning to see if we could see a name," McMullen said.
Annie who is studying her family genealogy is determined to find the resting place of her husband's great, great-uncle, Charles McMullen. Her research led her to the old Church Street Cemetery in Waltham which dates back to the 1880s. "The Church Street Cemetery was the original one and was an Irish Catholic cemetery," McMullen said.
In 1947 the town along with Archdiocese of Boston expanded the land to make way for a school and homes. All of the bodies were removed and placed in Calvary Cemetery. Arthur Bennett who is a former Waltham historian and preservationist says these old tombstones were laid flat. "The Archdiocese maintains it but the grass builds up and Mother Nature takes over and grass grows over the edges. Plus many of these people died 150 years ago and relatives lost track of where their ancestors buried," Bennett said.
Until Annie came along looking for great, great-uncle Charles and accidentally discovered these buried headstones.
"Just amazement that here are probably are lying are 900 bodies of Irish immigrants many whose headstones cover over," McMullen said.
Next week a team of volunteers plan to uncover them all. "Long term is to uncover everything, document it, and try and maintain it in the future," Bennett said. Annie hopes to find her great, great-uncle Charles.
"Makes me feel good. We are going to bring these people back to light again and also reunite people with their ancestors," McMullen said.