Woman renewing cemetery

Looking over 6 sandy acres along Arsenal Street, Kathy T. Plante-Hunt is doing her best to help maintain the land for its roughly 500 inhabitants.

Maintaining the Arsenal Street Cemetery, which sits at the foot of the bridge spanning the CSX railroad tracks, has become a daily hobby for Mrs. Plante-Hunt.

"It's been plagued with a lot of apathy over the years," she said. "People would go to only straighten it out once every 10 years."

Mrs. Plante-Hunt has a vision of a cemetery adorned with a variety of gardens, fences, benches and lighted pathways that one day could host midnight tours, campouts, concerts and wedding ceremonies.

Since she began work on the cemetery last year, almost a dozen gardens have been planted and various plots have been adopted by private individuals. The city Department of Public Works regularly mows the land and removes dead trees.

The Noon Rotary Club and Tree Watertown planted 19 trees in the cemetery earlier this year.

"This started as a home-schooling project and has turned into my life's passion and work," Mrs. Plante-Hunt said.

She rolled into the cemetery in an old pickup with bushes in the bed Thursday. The foliage, which she says will turn a fire red in the fall, would make a great addition to the cemetery, she said.

"People are taking notice that it's beginning to look clean," she said. "But we've only scratched the surface."

One of the projects she's working on is installing a gazebo in the cemetery's east end. She's now priming and painting portions of the wood structure.

Once that's complete, volunteers will be needed to help with assembly. That is scheduled to be complete by early August, Mrs. Plante-Hunt said.

She also is raising funds to construct two welcome centers, one at each entrance.

The centers will have information that highlights some of the history of the cemetery and its permanent residents, who include Julian Nicholas Goodall Jr., who was known as the "crazy fiddler," members of the Massey family, who were founding settlers of Watertown, and a plethora of veterans dating back to the Revolutionary War.

Mrs. Plante-Hunt said she is selling "prize giveaway" tickets to raise funds for the welcome centers. Ticket holders can win prizes including a horse-drawn carriage ride through the city of Watertown and a sightseeing tour of the area in a private plane.

She also is trying to form a corporation that has nonprofit status with the state, so she can apply for grants and be able to receive tax-deductible donations from companies.

"We're working on that, still," she said.

To accompany the landscaping, Mrs. Plante-Hunt said, she will take classes this summer to learn how to clean, reset and repair headstones that have felt the brunt of the changing north country seasons.

"The headstones have suffered a lot of damage from time in the elements," she said. "For the most part, some are in really good shape and some are in fair shape."

She said she is trying to unearth and catalog stones that have been buried or are hidden in overgrown brush.

"I deem this a 2007 to 2012 project to just get it cleaned up and get the cemetery back on the map," she said. "But it's going to be a life's mission."

To volunteer with maintenance or to adopt a plot, call Mrs. Plante-Hunt at 788-3306.