Middletown Cemetery

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Push on to list cemetery on national list

By Andy Sedlak, Staff Writer 8:08 PM Friday, August 19, 2011 
MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown Cemetery holds the burial plots of three Revolutionary War soldiers, 238 confirmed veterans, numerous state representatives and a host of past mayors.
Its patrons believe the cemetery is one of the strongest links Middletown has to its past and preservation should be a priority for the cemetery.
That’s why movement is being made to have the 12-acre burial ground a national historical site and to place it on a National Registrar of Historic Cemeteries.
It would make the cemetery available for other avenues of funding, some that are only available to cemeteries deemed national and state historical sites.
The city of Middletown designated the cemetery as a historical site in the late 2000s, but Middletown Cemetery Board member Mitchell Ballard said the cemetery deserves recognition from the state and national levels.
“The end goal is to try to get it put on a national register,” he said.
To get there, cemetery must apply with a state-level group and adhere to about 20 requirements, essentially measuring how good the condition of the cemetery is in and how well it reflects the time it was established, which was 1827.
Some restoration is in order before cemetery officials can apply. Ballard said it will take about $90,000 to repair the cemetery’s vault, which at one time was used a storage facility for bodies during times of bad weather.
“We would like to use it as a museum,” Ballard said of the vault. “There could be pamphlets and promotional items and eventually have a walking tour to show where prominent people in Middletown are buried.”
One person of prominence would be the Rev. James Grimes, a Revolutionary War soldier with noted accolades for his work on the Capital building in Washington D.C., Ballard said. Grimes spent his later years preaching in Middletown.
Cemetery officials would also like to start refurbishing headstones.
The Middletown Cemetery Board has received a $15,000 grant for the vault and a $9,300 grant for the tombstone restoration from the Middletown Community Foundation. The board is accepting donations for further assistance.
If community members would like to donate to the vault’s restoration, Ballard said checks can be made out to the City of Middletown Finance Department at One Donham Plaza. Residents should designate that checks should go to the Middltown Cemetery fund for vault restoration.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or asedlak@coxohio.com.