This past weekend, a few diehard Exeter Historical Association members, along with Dory Wagner from the R.I. Advisory Commission on Historic Cemeteries, set out to reclaim the overgrown cemetery located on the same property as the Exeter Public Library. According to the John Sterling's 1994 "Exeter Historical Cemeteries" book, the Exeter #19 Historical Cemetery only had 39 graves. But Dory, Sheila Reynolds Boothroyd, and Gary Boden ended up finding and marking headstones and footstones of more than 30 more!
Dory and other EHA volunteers will be back out at the cemetery this Saturday, March 17th, to continue the clearing process. Once we find all the graves, we'll notify the Historic Cemetery Commission and have them added to the official record! Come join us behind the Library building at 773 Ten Rod Rd, beginning at 10AM, and help us rewrite Exeter history!
 |
| Number 19, located just behind the Exeter Public Library on Ten Rod Rd. |
 |
| Placing stakes to mark some of the "lost" gravestones. |
 | ||
| Sheila Reynolds-Boothroyd clearing brush. |
 | |
| Finding one of the buried headstones. |
 |
| A close up shot of this stone shows an inscription of 1771 - this may be amongst the oldest stones in Exeter! |
