An old, neglected cemetery at Old Sugar Creek Road and Johncor Lane in unincorporated Fenton has new life, thanks to a Murphy man who has made it his mission to clean it up and maintain it.
George VanMeter, 56, said he has been working the past several years to restore the JJ McCormack Community Cemetery in an effort to make sure the graves there are not forgotten.
“Everybody has turned their back on this cemetery,” he said.
VanMeter encourages others to help him with the project.
He set up a nonprofit organization in May designed to take care of the cemetery and to take on other community service projects.
VanMeter said the cemetery has 49 graves documented on findagrave.com and he uncovered 55 more undocumented graves.
He said most of the undocumented graves seem to be children’s graves because they don’t have headstones. Instead, he found rocks, wood and clam shells with the graves, which he said was a tradition for early settlers.
“The children weren’t buried in caskets,” he said.
VanMeter said the earliest documented headstone in the cemetery is from the 1850s, but he believes it has graves from as early as the 1820s.
He said the original owner of the land where the cemetery is located was J.J. McCormack.
VanMeter said he is unsure who owns the property now, but someone who lives near the cemetery claimed ownership, and the owner of a nearby mobile home community also claimed to own it.
“It’s just (a piece of land) nobody wants to take care of,” he said.
VanMeter said he started just mowing the area six years ago.
“When I drove by here in 2016 on my way to work and I saw the weeds higher than the headstone, that did it,” he said.
VanMeter said he believes a Boy Scout troop had been maintaining the cemetery at one point, but it looked like no one had tended to it for at least five years, so he decided to take on the job.
One day in 2020 he was mowing and struck Minnie Brommelsieck’s headstone, which had fallen down and was partially buried. So he dug it up and placed it upright again.
“These (graves) have been in the ground from anywhere from 150 to 180 years that they’ve been forgotten,” he said.
VanMeter said a Boy Scout troop had made a “McCormick Cemetery” sign about 15 years ago, and he left it at the cemetery, even though the family name is spelled incorrectly.
In addition to the Boy Scout sign, VanMeter has made a sign for the cemetery with what he believes is the correct spelling.
VanMeter said he believes it is illegal to bury more people in the cemetery since no one is exactly sure where every grave is located.
Cindy Drago, 61, who has lived in the nearby mobile home community since 2004, said she appreciates VanMeter’s work at the cemetery.
“They are my quiet neighbors,” she said. “George has been doing some amazing work.”
She said she is glad to see the cemetery cleaned up.
“He is just doing it for the community,” she said. “He has really put his heart into it.”
VanMeter started a Facebook group for the cemetery, and several people have started tracing the genealogy for many of those buried there.
Angel Park Community Memorial
VanMeter said he hopes the nonprofit organization for the cemetery eventually expands its scope of community service.
“I’m starting a nonprofit because I wanted to give back,” he said. “I want the cemetery to be self-sustaining and be able to give back to the community.”
VanMeter said he’d eventually like to raise enough money to cover the cost of funerals for children from families in need and to help families who have lost loved ones or who have members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It’s going to take people to help,” he said.
VanMeter also wants to create a place in the lot next to the cemetery for people to memorialize their loved ones.
He has begun clearing the lot and calls it Angel Park Community Memorial.
VanMeter said he plans to add a cross and angel statues to the area soon.
He said anyone looking to place some type of marker in memory of a loved one in the park should reach out to him on the J J McCormack Community Cemetery Facebook group.