Cemeteries, then and now
On November 4, the selectboard formally accepted ownership of Evergreen Cemetery behind Town Hall. This finalized the change of ownership initiated via a quitclaim deed executed on September 4. A quitclaim deed is a fast and easy way to transfer a real estate title to a new owner while making no guarantees that the title is clear. There's probably nothing to worry about in the case of this particular transaction.
Up until then, the cemetery had been administered by a private organization, the Evergreen Rest Cemetery Association. However, due to their advanced years, the trustees felt they were no longer able to fulfill their duties to maintain the cemetery. The costs of maintaining the cemetery, including mowing and repair of monuments, had also outpaced the capacity of the Abbie Bond Trust that paid for upkeep. This trust will continue to contribute a few thousand dollars annually toward the cemetery's upkeep; however, it is a fraction of the actual cost. Mowing alone comes to $13,000 or more a year.
With this transfer, almost all cemeteries in Thetford are now the Town's responsibility. The Town selectboard does have the power to "sell and convey lots in such burial grounds," but it is more usual for the Town to "elect separately a board of three or five cemetery commissioners, who shall have the care and management of such burial ground and exercise all the powers, rights, and duties with respect to such care and management and all responsibility on the part of the selectboard shall cease." Accordingly, Thetford has a Cemetery Commission of three members.
Cemetery law in Vermont was drawn up in the days when farming was an important part of the economy. Keeping livestock out of cemeteries was evidently a concern. Vermont law states, "When the selectboard or cemetery commissioners neglect to keep in repair the fence around a public burial ground, the town may be prosecuted for such neglect and fined not more than $400.00.” In fact, the selectboard in July approved the expense of $30,000 to replace the fence posts around the North Thetford Cemetery with durable granite posts that would be "in keeping" with the aesthetics of the burial ground.
In 2023, the Cemetery Commission drew up a document setting out for the first time the rules and regulations governing Town cemeteries which is posted on the Town website. The rules include appropriate behavior in a cemetery, such as no picnicking or playing games, no alcohol consumption, and no discharging of firearms except as part of a military ritual. Dogs must be on leash at all times, and owners must remove any dog waste and not place it in the litter bins that are provided for litter only. Monuments and plants must not be injured or disturbed, and children under 12 years of age must be accompanied by an adult. The rules also extend to types of traffic allowed which may not exceed a speed of 5 mph. No bicycles, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, or horse-drawn vehicles are permitted, even in ceremonies, unless authorized by the Sexton or Cemetery Commission.
The list of cemeteries that the Town owns is surprisingly long. Many are historic, and perhaps not all of them are maintained regularly. The Cemetery Commission's report for 2023 states that they are responsible for only "seven of the ten Town cemeteries" though fifteen are listed in this table from a previous Town Report.
CEMETERY FACTS AND FIGURES
The Cemetery Commission notes that while volunteers have offered to clean and straighten headstones, "repairing foundations, bases and broken stones will require professional help." Towards that end a non-municipal Cemetery Trust fund does exist that provides the Town with financial assistance. It is administered by the Trustees of Trusts and, in total, was valued at $44,259 as of December 31st, 2023.
The Cemetery Commission also notes that Evergreen Rest "has room for many more burials so its continued maintenance is a benefit to the community."
The Town’s largest burial ground, the 6-acre Evergreen Rest Cemetery was originally known as the New Thetford Center Cemetery. The original, or Old Thetford Center Cemetery, is located on Tucker Hill Road. Sometime in the 1780s, burials began in this cemetery, not long after the Town of Thetford was created by a royal charter issued in 1761 to the Governor of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth. Wentworth was expanding the borders of New Hampshire through a series of land grants that were disputed by then-abutting New York state. Eventually Vermont came into existence when a group of New Hampshire settlers to the west of the Connecticut River declared independence from New York.
The Old Thetford Center cemetery is no longer active, although burials continued there for over a century, through the early 1900s. In 1830 the Evergreen Rest cemetery started to take over as the main graveyard in Thetford Center.
Though smaller in area than Evergreen, the cemetery in Post Mills surpasses Evergreen with over 1200 burial sites. It is recorded as a private cemetery. Two other sizable cemeteries are The East Thetford Cemetery, which is adjacent to Rt 5 a little south of Childs Pond, and the North Thetford Cemetery, also known as Pleasant Ridge, which sits behind trees above Rt 5 in North Thetford Village. The oldest headstones, dating to the 1760s, are located in East Thetford, consistent with this village being perhaps the first recorded settlement due to the rich arable soils on the Connecticut River.
Many of the small cemeteries probably started as family plots. Vermont law allows families to care for their dead, including transporting them and burying them on private property. An example of a family site is the Follett cemetery located off Academy Road across from the approach to the state park. Only two people appear to be buried here, Silas Follett in 1853 and his wife Cynthia in 1856.
Other small cemeteries, like the Jackman cemetery (aka Rices Mill cemetery) off Jackson Brook Road, are the resting place for more than one family. Similar examples include the Sawnee Bean Cemetery off Colby Road north and Wilmot Cemetery, also called Fowler or Stevens Cemetery, located off Stevens Road towards Rt 5. The Gove Hill cemetery is said to be abandoned. The Glebe cemetery may be hard to find. It is thought to be the grave of an infant child, John Greene Chamberlain, who died in 1779.
While several famous people were born in Thetford, such as Henry Wells (1805-1878) who founded the companies that became American Express and Wells Fargo and Mills Olcott Burnham (1817-1886) who became a member of the Florida House of Representatives, they mostly are not buried here. One exception is Dean Conant Worcester who was born in Thetford in 1866 and died in the Philippines in 1924. He was a scholar and scientist and one of the first US naturalists to specialize in the Philippines. He served as Secretary of the Interior for the colonial government of the Philippines after Spain ceded control of the islands to the US. However, it was insinuated that he used his position to exploit the resources of the Philippines, in particular coconut oil, for personal gain. He was also disliked for his photographic depiction of Filipinos as primitives and for his opposition to the eventual independence of the island nation. After retiring from office, he became a very successful cattle rancher in the Philippines.
Dean Conant Worcester's gravestone may be viewed in the North Thetford Cemetery.