A veteran gravestone at Riverside Cemetery in Oxford, marbled with moss. Submitted

OXFORD — After Selectperson Sharon Jackson alerted the rest of the board earlier this month that she has been fielding multiple complaints about the condition of Oxford’s cemeteries, the town is putting together a plan to prioritize their maintenance.

After her most recent call, this time about Riverside Cemetery on King Street, Jackson went and investigated herself.

“I want the board to be aware of the disastrous condition of our cemeteries,” she told other selectmen. “Grass this (two feet) high is unacceptable. The condition of those stone is also unacceptable. There are broken stones, and some of them you can’t read.

“There is an abutting property with a fence that divides the two. I believe the cemetery owns that fence. Those trees on the other property – the branches are hanging so far over…they are covering the stones. It hasn’t been cleaned up in two years. That’s a disgrace.”

Overgrown line trees and vegetation debris obscure many of the graves at Riverside Cemetery in Oxford. Submitted

She pointed out that the Craigie Cemetery, by the Center Meeting House on King Street, is the last one that has seen proper upkeep. That was done at least five years ago and only after Jackson voiced the same concerns.

The person previously contracted to do the stone maintenance then is no longer available and no new service provider has been hired. Oxford’s cemetery committee, which Jackson volunteers on, has become largely inactive since its chairperson moved away with other members losing interest.

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“We need a plan,” she continued. “The highway crew should go to all the cemeteries and assess damage from the winter, making a list of the stones needing repaired.”

Town Manager Adam Garland confirmed to the Advertiser Democrat that work has since begun.

“We have found an individual, Susan Culleton, who has the skills and tools necessary to clean the stones,” he said. “Sue is an Oxford resident who offered to help.”

In a week’s time Culleton has taken care of about a half dozen markers.

Garland added that last year Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School student Luna Calhoun had tended to Pine Grove Cemetery on Pismo Beach Road as a senior project; Jackson said that she found Pine Grove to be in good shape.

Oxford’s Highway Department is currently inspecting each site, assessing all gravestones and organizing a condition report ahead of repair work that will start next spring. By then Garland expects new volunteers to be seated on the cemetery committee to oversee grounds keeping and stone preservation.

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Oxford allocates $5,000 annually in its budget for cemetery upkeep.

Plots at Riverside Cemetery in Oxford have overgrown vegetation and stones in need of resetting. Submitted photo

For the past two years the town has outsourced mowing to a third-party at a cost of $18,500. By the time the contract expired this fall, they had not completed final, seasonal, work at the cemeteries.

“Next year, we will hire summer employees to do town mowing,” Garland said. “Our crews will pay more attention to repairs that need to be done to fencing, cleaning up vegetation debris, and to issues with the gravestones.”

In recent years since the pandemic many towns have found it difficult to hire seasonal and part-time staff and pivoted to outsourcing.

“We have the equipment to do the work,” he said. “The cost for staffing as opposed contracting it should be about the same.”

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