Preservationists Bringing New Life to Mt. Wood Cemetery

WHEELING - It was foggy and misty on Sunday morning, but still the view was magnificent from atop Mt. Wood Cemetery in Wheeling looking out on the Ohio River.

Some might even say it's a good place to picnic when the weather is right, and the Ohio County Cemeteries Foundation hopes to restore the peaceful feeling there.

The OCCF on Saturday offered a workshop on Saturday at Mt. Wood Cemetery detailing methods for cemetery preservation and documentation. Attendees even got to participate in the start of the restoration of a tombstone.

Sunday, meanwhile, was set as "Cemetery Cleaning and Restoration Day." But the weather Sunday morning discouraged many from taking part.

Mt. Wood Cemetery was constructed on the hillside overlooking Wheeling in 1848, and it is the only cemetery in Wheeling that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

It was one of the many cemeteries established in the mid-1800s that were actually designed to attract people, explained Sharon David, historic preservationist with AmeriCorps.

"When you look at different memorials, you will see things from Masons, or people who had particular interests," David said. "If you are very interested in the area's history, here we have some of the area's most renowned people buried that did things for the area - as well as some people who settled the area.

"But I think it's just a great place to come and have a picnic. Look at the views. People could come spend some time here. It wasn't just about leaving the dead here."

The idea behind the construction of such rural cemeteries as Mt. Wood, Greenwood and Peninsula cemeteries "was to create parks just outside of the city to go spend their Sunday afternoons and have a picnic with their deceased family members," explained Joni Morris, historic cemeteries expert with AmeriCorps.

She noted the stone tables - called "table monuments" - situated throughout the cemetery that were intended for that purpose.

"Really, that's what they did. They came and had a picnic with their deceased loved ones," Morris said. "This happened during the Victorian era and lasted into the 1800s."

Americorps volunteers are seeking to get other cemeteries in the Wheeling area on the National Register of Historic Places, as the distinction makes them eligible to receive federal grant funding.

Stewart Pavilack, chairman of the Mt. Wood Jewish Cemetery, said he attended the workshop on Saturday to learn more about what can be done to preserve the tombstones there.

"I've been involved with it for years, and I wanted to see what techniques were available that I was unaware of," he explained. "I've been chairman for two years, and around it almost all my life."

The Jewish cemetery was established in 1849, and "is showing its age," according to Pavilack.

Scott Werner said it was his love of history, culture and the architecture of the stones that brought him out to the workshop.

"I was just thinking that 200 years from now if somebody comes upon my toppled gravestone, maybe they might restore it as well," he explained.