BOONVILLE, N.Y. (WWTI) – The Kenneth V. and Jeannette Remp Sawyer Community Fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation is giving the Boonville Cemetery the ability to restore gravestones going back to the late 1850s.

A $7,000 grant will enable cemetery trustees to purchase a tombstone jack to restore several decades-old gravestones and repair several broken, fallen and tipped headstones. With the cemetery’s trustees and volunteers leading the charge, the organization plans to gradually restore several gravestones in the future.

Alan Salmon, president of the Boonville Cemetery Association (WWTI/Kenneth Eysaman)

With gravestones dating to the late 1850s, Boonville Cemetery is one of the oldest in the area and it has become a priority to fix several gravestones. For the last three years, the association has updated digital records of the 166-year-old cemetery to enhance genealogy and research requests.

This grant is one of fourteen grants totaling $58,050 that were awarded this year from the Sawyer Community Fund to support projects and programs that impact the quality of life for residents in Boonville, Constableville and Westernville.

The application for the next grant cycle for funding from the Kenneth V. and Jeannette Remp Sawyer Community Fund will be available in February 2024, according to the Northern New York Community Foundation.