I visited West Burying Ground (AKA Barber Cemetery) in Charlotte, Vermont recently. If you want to visit, type in Barber Cemetery into Google Maps to find it. Otherwise, you won’t.
Parking to visit was very challenging. There was no good place that felt safe for my car. In the end, I parked in front of the fence near the gate. But, I had my hazard lights on because the grassy area was fairly narrow there.
My car was facing the same direction as traffic, which is required in all places, except Burlington. The area before the cemetery was too sloped and there was no area after it. On the other side of the street, there was also no place to park. Parking was tricky.
And there was NO WAY I would have tried to park inside the fence! The gate ABSOLUTELY needed some grease or WD-40. I wasn’t sure I’d even get in, it was so stiff!
Once I did, the entrance area was sloped. Until it flattened out, it felt a bit treacherous. There was no sure footing. And even though it flattened out, the ground was still uneven. No fun walking here.
Onto the really interesting stuff! There were wooden tables set up around the cemetery. Each table had broken headstone pieces, which were being REPAIRED! I’ve NEVER seen anything like this.
“VOCA Service Project – West Burying Ground
On May 20th, 2017, under the watchful eye of master stone mason, Pete Demick of Vermont Walkways and Stone Preservation Ltd., volunteers from Vermont Old Cemetery Association were trained to right vulnerable leaning stones in the West Burying Ground.
With the help of Dianne Leary and Charlotte’s cemetery commissioners, a total of 27 antique stones, some down for decades, were secured – hard, but rewarding work, in the graveyard on Greenbush Road.”-https://www.charlottevt.org/index.asp?SEC=CFD6F7B1-9FFA-4DCE-B649-8EEB255DF9AB&DE=1B8FF6FB-3460-4008-9F49-F61A602EA71B&Type=B_BASIC
From a sign:
“West Burying Ground ca. 1785
aka Barber Cemetery
Charlotte lands were dominated by bears, wolves, and native indians [SIC] until the late 18th century when English people arrived to settle and cultivate. The toils of these colonial adventurers concluded here, with over 700 burials. All are invited to dwell in reflection and respect.”
I should note the sign with this information was not present the day I filmed. I found it on Findagrave.com. It had been posted by Elaine on 8/7/2016.-https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/103895/barber-cemetery/photo
