PHOTO BY JOHN RAKAUSKAS

Monday, August 5, 2024; Brookmere Cemetery, 3645 Broadview Rd., in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood of Cleveland: Cleveland residents as well as residents of other cities in Ohio and neighboring states attended an outdoor workshop demonstrating how to clean, repair and reposition headstones. The workshop was conducted by Jonathan Appell, founder of “48StateTour! — Saving America’s Graveyards”.

by Lynette Filips

     (Plain Press September 2024) This month we continue to look at the history of the northwest corner of Pearl Rd. and Memphis Ave. which the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation (OBCDC) is seeking to “revitalize” with a $31 million new construction project. It is the most historic section of Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2005. A picture of St. Luke’s United Church of Christ, one of the numerous commercial and institutional buildings on Pearl Rd. (and on Broadview Rd.) included in the Historic District designation, accompanies the online listing of the South Brooklyn Commercial District.

     While OBCDC pursues funding for a plan to tear down the major portion of this corner to erect a four-story building with commercial space on the first floor, residential space on the upper floors, and a brewery in the church proper portion of the former St. Luke’s, another group of people in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood is still hoping to Save Our Historic District.

     This ninth in a series of articles will shed additional light on the history of downtown Old Brooklyn in the hope that someone in authority will realize that adaptive reuse of the existing buildings is superior to tearing down most of them and replacing the demo-ed area with new construction. Adaptive reuse would accomplish the same goals of adding new residential space, updated commercial space and new socialization space to downtown Old Brooklyn, but it would do so by using the existing historic structures. It is the method which has been employed in downtown Cleveland to put new residential, hotel, retail, and restaurant space in buildings which formerly housed department stores, banks, and other businesses.

     In January, the first of eight previous articles, I wrote about the three generations – Jeremiah, Charles, and Howard — of the Gates family of millers in Old Brooklyn. 

     In February, the second of eight previous articles, I wrote about the precursor of Pearl Road United Methodist Church (which was on the north side of the Big Creek valley) — Brooklyn Methodist Episcopal Church. 

     In March, the third of eight previous articles, I wrote about Brighton Methodist Episcopal Church, the initial name of the first Methodist church south of the Big Creek valley. Today it is known as Pearl Road United Methodist Church. I also began to write about the (Old) Burying/Burial Ground at the corner of Pearl Rd. and Memphis Ave just south of the Methodists’ property.

     In April, the fourth of eight previous articles, I wrote additional information about the (Old) Burying/Burial Ground using research obtained from local cemetery author Bill Krejci. 

     In May, the fifth of eight previous articles, I wrote more about the (Old) Burying/Burial Ground, including Bill Krejci’s belief that the body of Revolutionary War veteran Richard Cooper remains interred there. 

     In June, the sixth of eight previous articles, I wrote about the history of St. Luke’s United Church of Christ, beginning with its precursor, the German United Evangelical Protestant Church of Parma and then an off shoot, the German United Evangelical Church of Brighton.

     In July, the seventh of eight previous articles, I wrote about the two doctors, Washington Emil Linden and his son, John Linden, who had once lived in the frame, late Victorian-era house at 3444 Memphis Ave.

     In August, the eighth of eight previous articles, I began to write about the Greenline Building(s), two separate commercial structures along the north side of Memphis Ave. (where it begins at Pearl Rd.)

     This month I thought that I would be continuing to write about the Greenline Building(s), but because of a recent event at nearby Brookmere Cemetery which speaks of the historical importance of this section of Old Brooklyn, I have decided to put the Greenline on hold for another month so that I can report the Brookmere happening in a timely fashion.

     Brookmere Cemetery is located at the end of “Short” Broadview Rd. (west of Pearl Rd.)  I consider it to be the most serene place in all Old Brooklyn. I have previously mentioned it in this historical series because when it was established in 1835/36, many of the bodies in the Old Burying Ground at Memphis Ave. and Pearl Rd. were exhumed and reburied there. Today Brookmere Cemetery is maintained by the City of Cleveland, and the city had to grant permission for the outdoor workshop to take place on its grounds.

     The story of the national cemetery event which took place at Brookmere on Monday, August 5th, began more than a year ago when two sisters were looking for the grave of a relative who is interred there. (The surname of the relative is Huy.) The sisters had grown up in Old Brooklyn, but now one of them, Linda Cameron, lives in Cleveland Hts., and the other, Karen Parks, lives in Parma. According to Linda, “We had seen one of our ancestors that started everything… our maiden name Huy,” Linda explained, “and upon further investigation, we learned that we have 18 ancestors buried there under various family names!”

     The first time that they were at Brookmere, Linda and Karen were appalled at the poor condition of the Cemetery and afterwards they stopped at the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn’s (HSOB) Museum at 3430 Memphis Ave. to find out who is responsible for taking care of it. According to HSOB president Constance (Connie) Ewazen, the sisters returned to the Museum a second time to tell her that they and their volunteer crew had picked up 75 bags of trash from the Cemetery grounds and that they were interested in doing more volunteer work there. Connie suggested that they put the flags on the veterans’ graves for Memorial Day. Linda and Karen did that and planted poppy seeds, too.

     Linda and Karen also established a foundation, the Brookmere Cemetery Preservation Coalition. And they began immersing themselves in news about old cemeteries. In the online process they learned about 48 State Tour, Saving America’s Graveyards, the program founded by Jonathan/Jon Appell from Southington, Connecticut in 2020. A masonry preservation specialist and gravestone and monument conservator, Jonathan is the CEO of Atlas Preservation, Inc., established in 2016. The firm sells products, tools and materials which can be used for gravestone repair and restoration. Jonathan’s daughter and two sons are the firm’s other owners and full-time employees.

     Jonathan has had an aptitude for building and repairing since his youth and has years of experience doing just that in a variety of mediums. In the 1990s he worked for a cemetery contracting company where he gained valuable experience in excavation, monument installation, foundations, and restoration. 

     Taking the restoration concept a step farther, Jonathan got the idea to sponsor a contest tied to an annual tour. He would travel across the continental United States and visit one cemetery in each state to conduct a totally free hands-on seminar about – among other things — cleaning gravestones, rejoining pieces of fractured tablet stones, and resetting tilted stones. The cemeteries would be chosen from the proposals and photos entrants submitted online.

     Nationwide, for the 2024 event (Jon’s fifth annual tour) over 300 entries were vying for the coveted winning positions. Ohio cemeteries had submitted 12 of those entries, including Linda Cameron’s for Old Brooklyn’s Brookmere Cemetery. The 2024 tour began in New Haven, Connecticut on May 28th and ended in Windsor, Connecticut on August 6th. That added up to 56 events and 15,000 miles in 82 days. Jonathan travelled with one other person, either his daughter Courtney or another lady. 

     The restoration workshop at Brookmere Cemetery was #47 in the line-up. It was preceded by a stop at a cemetery in Kalamazoo, Michigan and followed by a stop at a cemetery in Medina, New York. Approximately 80 people attended all or part of the workshop at Brookmere and not all of them were from Northeast Ohio. Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Rochester, New York; Michigan; West Virginia, Texas, and the Carolinas were among the relatively distant places represented.

     There are approximately 3,500 people interred at Brookmere Cemetery and not all of them have a headstone, footstone or monument marking their burial places. The materials on most of the marked graves varies, but include limestone, sandstone, granite, marble, and zinc. Identifying the material of the stones and safe practices for cleaning each material was one of the topics discussed early in the program. Explaining the carvings, identifying damage, and rust and graffiti removal were also covered. Ultimately cleaning and repair filled the rest of the day. After Jonathan’s demonstrations, participants were able to try out the techniques themselves.

     Four members of the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn attended segments of the cemetery preservation workshop. Below are their thoughts about the event.

     Brenda Theurer, “I was only able to attend the first 45 minutes (because I had a previous commitment at the Cuyahoga County Fair Grounds.) I was amazed at the number of people who came to “our” little cemetery from out-of-town, even out-of-state, other cemeteries and other historical societies.”

     Mary Ellen Stasek, “It was much more than I anticipated and well worth the time. Jonathan is very knowledgeable and very generous to do this.”

     Greg Cznadel, “What an opportunity to have a hands-on experience removing grown-on moss that may have been almost as old as the stone itself.”

     John Rakauskas, (local architect), “I’m really glad that I attended; there are lots of other applications besides gravestone restoration.”

     Channel 5 News’ (News5Cleveland.com) Mike Holden has given some good coverage to the Brookmere Cemetery project, and links to those videos can also be viewed on the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn’s (HSOB) website, http://www.oldbrooklyn history.org. The dates of the three videos pertaining to the Brookmere restoration efforts are:  July 19th; August 5th and August 19th. The previous articles in this attempt to “Save Our Historic District” are also available on the HSOB website as well as on the Plain Press website, https://plainpress.blog.