Tropical Storm Doria, Part Three

TS Doria, Part Three

“Torrents of water deposited by last weekend’s rains cascaded through a cemetery adjacent to the excavation site of the Speedwell Avenue urban renewal project, emptying as many as five graves.

“Bernard Shaw, urban renewal project engineer, said the lack of proper retaining walls around the Presbyterian Church on the Green cemetery was a contributing factor in the emptying of the graves, some of which may date back to pre-Revolutionary War era. At least one of the graves was said to be about 200 years old.

“Workmen toiled yesterday at the church, piecing together broken headstones, attempting to salvage others, collecting bones which were strewn for hundreds of feet and conducting a general cleanup of the area….

“Shaw also mentioned the recently repaired sanitary sewer line seen suspended where similar erosion had taken place near a wall facing the Speedwell Avenue firehouse.

“During demolition of buildings in the area, Shaw said, the line had been broken, spilling raw sewage in the area and attracting rats. Repairs were made, but the exposed sewer line remained vulnerable...

“The problem with the graveyard might have been avoided, Shaw said, if a retaining wall had been constructed as planned.

“In the large trench left by the collapse, several old headstones, most of them made of brownstone or granite, were partially covered with dirt, while others were broken.

“Uprooted trees, part of a previously unbroken shield of green, further filled the deep trench.

“And in the large field created by the project excavation, several men, including Anthony Tartaglia, board of health president, patrolled the area carrying plastic bags seeking bones washed there by the rain.

“Also at the scene was Stanley Buglione, town sanitary inspector... Neither Buglione nor Tartaglia was aware of possible legal ramifications of the problem or who would assume responsibility for the apparent lack of precautions.”

~Daily Record, 8/71

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