A new fence was recently installed at Greenlawn Cemetery’s Chapel which was built in 1884 and has held funerals for Civil War veterans, WWI veterans, and civilians in its’ history.
Courtesy of Friends of Greenlawn Cemetery Foundation
Participants in last year’s Serve Day at Greenlawn Cemetery help in a general cleanup of the 40-acre cemetery for former Portsmouth and Scioto County residents.
Courtesy of Cornerstone Portsmouth
PORTSMOUTH — The Friends of Greenlawn Cemetery Foundation are preparing for their third annual Serve Day this Saturday, July 11, a day for community members to come together and help chip in general maintenance and cleanup of Portsmouth’s oldest cemetery.
Friends of Greenlawn Cemetery Foundation Board President spoke to the DailyTimes regarding the annual event spearheaded by fellow board members Dianne Applegate and Jennifer Schackart.
Gambill stated that community members who arrive at Greenlawn Cemetery beginning at 9 a.m. will be socially distancing and may wear a mask if they so choose.
“We are permitted, and people are searching for activities they can do outside safely,” Gambill said. “Greenlawn Cemetery is a 40-acre property, so we will be able to social distance and people will be wearing masks.”
Patrons pitching in Saturday’s Serve Day at Greenlawn can expect to participate in general cleanup and restoration of different areas within the near two-century-old cemetery.
“Every year we touch up,” Gambill said. “We did a complete paint job of the fence over the past year-and-a-half, interior fencing that needs done, and general cleanup that needs done every year.”
Gambill also stated that Friends of Greenlawn is expecting a big turnout for their Serve Day activities unless the weather decides not to cooperate in their favor.
“The cemetery has four sides that people will be able to enter in, people will come in and be dispatched to certain areas. We do expect a large turnout if it’s raining that might compromise things a bit.”
Since their inception in 2017, Friends of Greenlawn Cemetery Foundation’s mission is to do everything in their power to preserve the legacies and burials of the framers of the Portsmouth-area we know today.
As their third-annual Serve Day approaches, FOGCF continues to solicit engaged and helpful community response for preserving the legacies of those buried there.
“The restoration of Greenlawn has been very well received from the community since 2017 when we did our first Story of Us where we did an outdoor reenactment,” Gambill said. “The community’s been very supportive. They look for projects where they can see what they’re doing and what it means to the community to be respectful of our founders.”
Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1930, by email at jsmith@aimmediamidwest.com, or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2020 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
