David and Judy Kurtz, of Royalston Corner, Vermont, a section of the town of Concord, Vermont, visited the Royalston Historical Society Thursday. The couple wanted to visit Royalston, Massachusetts as they are working on a project to improve a cemetery in Royalston Corner, an section of town founded by former residents of Royalston, Mass.
The residents who founded Royalston Corner, Vt., according to Judy Kurtz , left Royalston in 1795 and first moved to Bethlehem, N.H., staying there for 15 to 20 years, before moving to Royalston Corner, Vt. Among them was Lot Woodbury, a Revolutionary War Veteran, according to Kurtz. She continued that Civil War Veterans buried there who were born in Vermont but descended from Royalston, Mass., residents include Walter Freeman, Russell Hutchinson, Joselin Richardson, Jonathan Matthews, John and Isaac T. Woodbury.
There are about 48 graves in the Vermont cemetery, which is being restored. “Five stones are broken and need to be mended; on the hillside there are a number of stones that are tipped and need to be set and cleaned. Three stones are larger and will need to be reset by a company, which will be hired.
The Kurtz’s live in the former one-room school house at Royalston Corner, which was built in 1873 and used as a school until 1922. “In 1964, we bought a house, barn, chicken coop and 25 acres for $2,000.” This was their summer home and when they retired, it became their full time residence. She said their home, the former schoolhouse and the cemetery are the only historic older items at the corner, Judy Kurtz said.
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), of which Kurtz is a member, is providing funding for the project through their program to restore historic cemeteries. A younger member of the DAR, Debra Bell, a retired civil engineer, will be leading the effort to repair the cemetery.
“We have asked the Fairbanks Museum from St. Johnsbury to assess the situation as well to be sure we do not disturb important plants,” she continued. On June 12, the Vermont Old Cemetery Commission will hold a training with volunteers on how to complete the cemetery repairs. “Most of the work of the restoration, cleaning and mending of stones, resetting tipped stones) will be done by volunteers from our DAR chapter as well as by people of all ages from our community.” In July, they expect to restore the broken stones and on Aug. 7, a work party is planned.
“We are finding that there will be some expense to the adjusting of three of the larger grave stones to be done by a professional company. Another neighbor family and ourselves are planning to foot costs for the restoration, which include a cleaning chemical, special epoxy for mending stones, and staymat gravel for filling in around readjusted stones.” The estimated cost for resetting the three large stones is $1,995. If any folks in the Royalston, Mass. area would like to contribute to that cost, Kurtz said, they can e-mail Kurtz at jkurtzvt@gmail.com
“We hope to have a celebration at the completion of the project for our community, probably at the end of September. We will extend invitations to folks from Royalston, Mass. as well and hope that some from there will come join us and will share a bit about their community at this celebration,” Kurtz continued.
Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on history with a particular interest in the history of the North Quabbin area.