Sprucing up the cemetery

“It’s the first thing visitors see coming into town,” commissioner Susan Tharp said about the Eureka Springs cemetery, explaining that the Cemetery Commission intends to reclaim the wrought-iron fence along the front of the cemetery on US 62.

Commissioner Peg Adamson pointed out there are more than 4000 people buried on the picturesque site, but there are areas where the fence in front is encumbered by thickets of brush, honeysuckle, Virginia creeper and poison ivy. In addition, the fence itself was covered with paint not compatible with the red primer underneath, so Adamson said the fence needs to be sandblasted and repainted. There is also an historic ground-level stonewall in front of the fence covered over for long stretches and in need of reclaiming.

The project will reposition the fence around a couple 100-year-old trees that have grown into the fence.

Adamson pointed out painting the fence will be complicated, and speculated it might cost $10,000 – 15,000 to sandblast, repair and repaint. She pointed out, however, “One new technology that will replace sandblasting is using a corncob/corn blaster. Technically, ground-up corncobs are shot from a machine to scour the lichen, flaking paint and dirt from the wrought iron.  It is bio-degradable which is awesome!”

Tharp said funds the commission gets from the city allow them “to go just beyond simply maintaining the property,” whereas in the past there was no funding for anything beyond bare bones maintenance.

“We’ve got forty acres, and every five feet you have to go around something. It’s hard to maintain,” Tharp commented, giving the front fence as an example of deferred maintenance which, if not corrected, will ruin it. “When I first got on board, I was told the brush was holding up the fence.”

Adamson said a team of volunteers from the First Christian Church will undertake clearing the fence line. To pay for the rest of the project, the commission intends to have several fundraisers. “We need someone to love us, or it will take time,” Tharp observed, noting they can fix the fence in stages.