Eighth-graders help restore old cemetery (Boston area)
Behind the Brunswick Zone bowling alley in Lowell, through the grass where a drive-in theater once stood, you can enter the woods through a narrow, brush-filled pathway.
For some, it may just be any woodsy area in Pawtucketville. But for Dracut teacher Rebecca Duda, rejuvenating this spot along Pawtucket Boulevard has become a mission.
Looking closer, past protruding branches and a mossy, leaf-ridden floor, the remnants of smashed headstones clutter the area. Remains of stone pillars where family plots were marked are hidden there. Claypit Cemetery is Dracut's oldest burial ground. It is also forgotten, with more than 20 known residents laid to rest here some 200 years ago, their markers smashed by vandals or buried under brush.
Adding to the web to be unraveled, Pawtucketville was part of Dracut when the burials took place. The land was later annexed to Lowell, but all who are buried there are part of Dracut's past.
"This is more than just cleaning up the cemetery, since there isn't much of a cemetery there anymore," said Duda, an eighth-grade history teacher at Lakeview Junior High School in Dracut. Duda is spearheading the Claypit project, with hopes that she and her team will be able to restore the cemetery.
Read entire article at Boston Globe
For some, it may just be any woodsy area in Pawtucketville. But for Dracut teacher Rebecca Duda, rejuvenating this spot along Pawtucket Boulevard has become a mission.
Looking closer, past protruding branches and a mossy, leaf-ridden floor, the remnants of smashed headstones clutter the area. Remains of stone pillars where family plots were marked are hidden there. Claypit Cemetery is Dracut's oldest burial ground. It is also forgotten, with more than 20 known residents laid to rest here some 200 years ago, their markers smashed by vandals or buried under brush.
Adding to the web to be unraveled, Pawtucketville was part of Dracut when the burials took place. The land was later annexed to Lowell, but all who are buried there are part of Dracut's past.
"This is more than just cleaning up the cemetery, since there isn't much of a cemetery there anymore," said Duda, an eighth-grade history teacher at Lakeview Junior High School in Dracut. Duda is spearheading the Claypit project, with hopes that she and her team will be able to restore the cemetery.