City of Weston gets $10,000 grant to restore historic cemetery

WESTON W.Va. (WBOY) — The City of Weston has received a $10,000 grant from the State Historic Preservation Office to restore a cemetery with graves that date back to before the Civil War.

Arnold Cemetery, also known as the Old Hill Cemetery, was established by a Catholic church in 1820 and has graves of veterans from World War II, World War I as well as the Civil War. Most of the Civil War graves are those of Union soldiers, but at least one is a Confederate Soldier.

The cemetery is also the site of West Virginia’s largest poplar tree, which is estimated to be 400 years old, according to the US Forest Service.

Efforts to restore the cemetery started with a small volunteer group called “Friends of Arnold”
who cleaned the stones and picked up fallen tree limbs. However, with the grant, the city plans to fix broken tombstones, repair fences, and build an archway at the entrance.

Marty Lewis, an official with the City of Weston, said that a member of the Friends of Arnold is applying to have the cemetery placed in the National Register of Historic Places, which would open up more funding opportunities.

The Friends of Arnold are looking for other community members to join them in restoring the cemetery. A 911 Day of Remembrance Workday to clean, paint, and repair the cemetery is scheduled on Sept. 14 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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