Denise Woodside wrote,
: Fred - What went on there?
:
: Denise
:
: Fred Smoot <dogtrotxp1(a)comcast.net> wrote:
: Joyce Harrison wrote,
:
: : I got it, just don't know what to discuss :)
:
: ====
:
: Maybe we could discuss the vandalized grave markers in historic Oakdale
: Cemetery, Wilmington NC.
:
: Fred Smoot
====
Denise, Joyce, et al,
Update first:
http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=2519623&nav=2gQcSk2o
http://www.wwaytv3.com/global/story.asp?s=2520561&ClientType=Printable
The article BELOW was published on
StarNewsOnline.com (Wilmington
Star-News) about the beginning October 2004. I pull this copy from an AHGP
mailing list since the original Star-News copy is no longer online.
>>>
OAKDALE CEMETERY RAVAGED DURING VANDALISM SPREE
By Cheryl Welch
Staff Writer
cheryl.welch@s...
Stark white, jagged pieces of granite and marble littered the tree-lined
lanes. Decapitated angel statues rested in azalea bushes. Two dozen Ice
House beer cans lay crumpled on the grass.
It was this scene that met Oakdale Cemetery Superintendent Eric Kozen as he
arrived Sunday morning at the cemetery's ornate iron gates."It was very,
very, very heartbreaking for me today," Mr. Kozen said later in the
afternoon. "This is just devastating
...."
Described as the worst vandalism in Wilmington's Oakdale Cemetery history,
he estimated 75 to 100 headstones were toppled or smashed sometime in the
wee hours of Sunday morning. The gates were closed and locked at 5 p.m.
Saturday, he said, but the vandals must have scaled the fence.
The damage was scattered throughout the cemetery, with the heaviest toll in
the oldest section.
"It's like leaving bread crumbs," Mr. Kozen said, describing the path taken
by the vandals - a group he estimated was five to 10 people strong. "They
leave a trail of damage going through the cemetery."
The majority of the desecrated graves were those who were buried in the mid-
to late-1800s and are among the earliest residents of the peaceful city of
the dead called Oakdale Cemetery.
Garden-like lanes lace through the cemetery's 165 acres, home to more than
26,000 people since its first burial in 1855. Considered a historic landmark
by locals, Oakdale Cemetery has been the final resting place for many of
Wilmington's distinguished citizens including Edward B. Dudley, the first
elected governor of North Carolina, and Henry Bacon Jr., architect of the
Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The graves desecrated include those of: Civil War Col. Champ T.N. Davis who
fought and died in the Battle of Seven Pines, Va. in 1862; MaryAnne Murphy
who lived through epidemics and the turmoil of Civil War occupation to die
at the age of 77 in 1889; and little Henrietta "Etta" Murphy who died in
1858 at the age of one year and two months.
Names, dates and scripture etched on the front of graves tell the story of
those who reside in the cool soil beneath dozens of toppled monuments. Some
of the gravestones hit in the rash of overnight vandalism can't be read due
to more than a century of braving the elements.
"Oakdale Cemetery is truly an outdoor living museum of Wilmington history,"
Mr. Kozen said. "They destroyed a good part of history." Wilmington police
are investigating the incident and ask anyone with information to come
forward.
"It looks like a bunch of kids or somebody went out there and had a party
and got carried away tearing up tombstones," Lt. B.L. Maultsby said. "It
seems to get a little worse this time of year."
He said the culprits face felony charges.
Mr. Kozen said security at the cemetery will be increased significantly to
prevent this from happening again.
Margaret McCall, 89, said she believes whoever is responsible for
the damage should be horsewhipped.
"I'm horrified," she said while visiting the unharmed graves of family
members dating back four generations. "Lord have mercy. This is a sacred
place."
Her daughter, Marion Danforth, said it was family tradition to spend days at
the cemetery, picnicking beneath the towering oaks and tending the graves of
friends and family.
"It's painful," she said, her gaze sweeping across the toppled monuments.
"It's such a disrespectful act. It's not something you can quite
restore."
Due to the age of most of the stones affected, Mr. Kozen doubts he'll be
able to locate family members to repair their elders' monuments.
In May, 18 gravesites in the older section of the cemetery were vandalized
in a similar fashion and he could locate only two of the families.
"It really falls upon the family," he said. "The stones are not part of
our
responsibility but we do take it upon ourselves to do what we need to do."
Police estimate the damage at $50,000 but Mr. Kozen said it's hard to put a
price on irreplaceable statues and monuments purchased in memory of loved
ones.
He is asking the community to pull together and give the non-profit cemetery
a helping hand to repair what has been destroyed.
Cheryl Welch: (910) 343-2315
cheryl.welch@s...
Contributions may be mailed to the Oakdale Cemetery Company at 520 North
15th Street, Wilmington NC 28401. For further details, please contact
cemetery superintendent Eric Kozen at (910) 762-5682.
====