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Harry Orcutt, right, commander of Jackson-Silver Post of the American Legion in Greenwood, and Blaine Mills, the unofficial historian of Greenwood, meet recently at Cummings Plot in Greenwood. An effort is underway to locate the graves of  Joseph Cummings, his son, Joseph Jr., a veteran of the War of 1812, and his grandson, Joseph Cummings Jr., a veteran of the Civil War, believed buried there along with family members. Rose Lincoln/The Bethel Citizen

GREENWOOD — This June, Sue Nusbaum and a team of local people will begin to restore a destroyed cemetery  across from the Greenwood Town Beach on Greenwood Road. (See Bethel Citizen story published April 20).

A few years ago, while researching her family history Nusbaum discovered she has direct descendants in the Cummings Plot that was destroyed by loggers in the 1970’s.

Nusbaum has enlisted the support of Greenwood Town Manager Kim Sparks, Greenwood Silver Post Commander Harry Orcutt, Blaine Mills of Locke’s Mills and others to help with the project.

She has hired Bob Perry to do ground penetrating radar on Friday July 7.

Orchestrating from her home in Phippsburg, ME., Nusbaum has asked for help obtaining photograph and other documents, too.
Their clean-up day is scheduled for Saturday June 17, starting at 10 am. Anyone who would like to help is invited, said Nusbaum.  They will meet at the Greenwood Town Beach Parking Lot. She asks that they bring rakes, chain saws, etc.
She has made a special plea to members of the  Cummings Family for help clearing the land and also for help with funding.
Nusbaum plans to start a Go-Fund-me page for the restoration project. The costs of clearing the cemetery and locating the graves is roughly $3320. The cost of erecting the three gravestones provided by the Veteran’s Administration, is $1200.  There may be other costs like  putting boulders along the cemetery boundaries, celebration expenses, etc., said Nusbaum.
Buried in the cemetery are three war veterans: Joseph Cummings;  Joseph Cummings Sr., and Joseph Cummings Jr. One of their wives, named Ruth, and a baby named Wellington are believed to be buried there as well.

Bethel Citizen writer and photographer Rose Lincoln lives in Bethel with her husband and a rotating cast of visiting dogs, family, and friends. A photojournalist for several years, she worked alongside...

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