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A HERITAGE REDISCOVERED
The Hebrew Benevolent Society, which administered the cemetery,
disbanded around 1900, but members of the Stine family continued to
look after the burial ground.
In 1903 the Cumberland Valley Railroad
began to purchase property in the right-of-way for its new "high line",
a stretch of trestle running through Chambersburg's east side. The Old
Jewish Cemetery was on the proposed route, as was its northern
neighbor, the Second Lutheran Church and its adjoining cemetery. The
bodies were to be disinterred and moved. However, a representative of
the Old Jewish Cemetery refused to sell, as Jewish graves may not be
disturbed. As a result, the railroad moved its right of way far enough
north. While the Lutheran Church was demolished and rebuilt one block
west on E. Washington Street, and the bodies in the Lutheran cemetery
were disinterred and moved to Cedar Grove Cemetery, the Jewish burial
ground was spared.
When Isaac Stine died in 1913, a small trust fund was set up to
maintain the cemetery, with his two daughters as trustees. Yet the
cemetery could not be prevented from falling into disrepair and
dilapidation. The sole witness of Chambersburg's Jewish past, and a
unique monument of American Jewish history, it sank into oblivion.
Neglect and occasional acts of vandalism had taken a heavy toll when
efforts to save this historical site were started in the 1980's.
Initiated by Larry Babbitts, and continued by Stanley Serxner of
Congregation Sons of Israel, Chambersburg, these efforts led to a first
restauration campaign in 1988, when Eagle Scout Jack Potts and twelve
of his classmates at Scotland School for Veterans Children performed
landscaping work and placed upright and cleaned six of the larger
headstones. Unfortunately, there were renewed acts of vandalism as
early as 1990, and the cemetery soon fell back into a desecrated state.
In 2000, the cemetery underwent a major, professional restoration.
Thanks to the generous gift of the late Jule Himelfarb, project manager
James Wolfson was able to hire a cemetery restoration firm of national
repute, Terry's Cemetery Restoration, Inc. of Liscomb, Iowa. On October
15, 2000, the old fence around the rear perimeter, which was rusty and
broken, and topped with barbed wire, was removed and replaced later
with a new, clean, chain link fence. The landscaping was renewed by
cutting weeds and underbrush, and removing unnecessary trees and roots.
Chambersburg citizens helped in this effort. In a foundry period
(October 17-21), Terry principals Bob and Kathy Terry were able to
right the larger headstones with a small front loader, and glued them
into position. Fragmented headstones that could possibly be repaired
were splinted and glued, returned as closely as possible to their
original locations. Headstones that were leaning due to collapsing
ground were righted. Approximately 30 headstones that had been leaning
against the old fence were placed at the heads of the graves closest to
them. The remaining fragmented headstones were gathered to be displayed
in the Anne
Marder Memorial Garden, which was dedicated on May 6, 2001.
Among other restauration activities of not was Bob Terry's use of a
pair of downing rods to identify the unmarked grave of a child, the
cemetery's last burial in 1953. On May 6, 2001 a headstone for little
Jane Louise Greenberg was dedicated. Bob Terry also used a
sophisticated metal detector to identify the foundation of the funeral
parlor, a key and back plate that may have belonged to the door to that
building, and other artefacts. It's also interesting to learn what the
metal detector did not find: In the area of the graves, there was not a
single indication of any metal. This is appropriate, as traditional
Jews use only wooden coffins and are interred clad only in burial
shrouds.
The Old Jewish Cemetery was ceremoniously rededicated on May 6, 2001.
It was awarded a PHMC state historical marker in September, 2001.
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The
cemetery before 1988
Cleaning Rachel Lauferty's headstone (1988)
The restoration campaign of 2000
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