Neal Shuman, of Waldoboro, replaces a railing in front of a Civil War veteran’s grave in the Oliver and Bernheimer Cemetery in North Waldoboro. Shuman, his two sons, and his daughter-in-law have helped maintain the site for the past 10 years, locating graves that were not recorded even in the records of the Waldoborough Historical Society, according to society President Bill Maxwell. (Molly Rains photo)
As a child, Neal Shuman remembers his father pointing out a dirt drive cut into the weeds alongside Route 220 in North Waldoboro. The road, he said, led to the cemetery where one of Shuman’s great uncles was buried. But it wasn’t until decades later – when Shuman and his sons traveled up that overgrown path to begin a mammoth restoration of the cemetery at its terminus – that he would discover the depth of knowledge and history the site contained.
“There’s a lot of valuable information in that cemetery,” said Waldoborough Historical Society President Bill Maxwell.
Shuman, Maxwell said, has rediscovered a number of notable graves at the Oliver-Bernheimer Cemetery, including those of 13 veterans who served in conflicts including the Revolutionary War, Spanish American War, and World War II. For some graves at the site, there was no prior record in the historical society’s archives, Maxwell said.
“You can’t see it from the road. Not too many people knew it was there … I, for one, never knew where it was,” Maxwell said.
Shuman and his sons, William and Joel Shuman, have helped mow and maintain the cemetery for over a decade. This summer, Shuman decided to take his efforts a step further. He set out to give the grounds a major facelift.
“I wanted to try and improve it big time,” he said.
As he cleared brush, righted headstones, and clashed with groundhogs, Shuman said he began to take increasing interest in the people buried under the land he was caring for.
Walking around the grounds on Oct. 8, Shuman pointed out some of his finds. One grave marks the resting place of a World War II veteran who Shuman knew in his childhood. Another stone features an intriguing anomaly: an engraved date of death that is a good 40 years earlier than the given birth date. Shuman said he noticed the discrepancy while weed-whacking.
Shuman lives just up the road from the site on land that has been in his family for generations. He knew about the cemetery from his father’s pointing it out, he said.
“My father would always say that ‘Uncle Harold was buried there,’” Shuman said. “That’s what got my attention.”
Years later, when Shuman was an adult, he and his father attempted to visit the site, only to find it overgrown.
Shuman said his father was distressed to see the state of the cemetery. Just as Shuman’s father had ensured his son knew where his relatives were interred, he also instilled in Shuman a commitment to maintaining gravesites out of respect for the dead. Shuman said one of his father’s last wishes was that someone maintain the cemeteries along Route 220.
“I just said, ‘I’ll do it,’” Shuman said. “I’ll do the best I can.”
Shuman, who has worked in construction, as a clammer, and as a trapper, also helps maintain other cemeteries in the area. At other sites, Shuman has mowed and cleared brush. He has even purchased a stone and paid for it to be engraved to mark the resting place of a man he never knew.
“It just made me feel better. I know he’s dead and gone, but it just made me feel better,” Shuman said.
The project Shuman embarked on at the Oliver-Burnheimer Cemetery would prove more intensive than the rest.
“I literally had to bring a chainsaw up here when we first started,” Shuman said.
Shuman cleared the brush and young trees to protect his lawn mowers; then, his two sons got to mowing. The town pays for two mows yearly to maintain the site, though Shuman said that more mowing is required to maintain the level of upkeep he wants to see.
William and Joel Shuman continued to mow the cemetery for about the next decade, until their developing careers and lives drew them away from the task.
Shuman, however, remained involved, despite health challenges that have hospitalized him multiple times in recent years. This summer, he mowed the cemetery about 10 times, Shuman said. Each mow takes him about five to six hours.
He has also begun learning about cemetery and gravestone restoration, attending a seminar on the topic in Damariscotta that grew his interest in the project. This summer, Neal Shuman put his knowledge into practice, repairing a few tilted or broken stones and throwing himself into the task of restoring the cemetery. Shuman’s daughter-in-law, Stephanie Shuman, helped him throughout the process, he said.
“I straightened out what I dared to straighten out. Almost every footstone in that place was crooked,” he said. Some of the stones are too delicate, however, for Shuman to dare handling them himself, he said.
Now, with autumn underway, the cemetery is blanketed in a neat lawn. Shuman has repaired railings, filled holes in the ground, and has even picked up casket handles that he believes were unearthed by groundhogs.
“I didn’t think it was ever going to look anywhere near what it looks like now,” Shuman said.
Maxwell visited the cemetery in early autumn after hearing about Shuman’s efforts. He was surprised to find the site in excellent condition, with all of its roughly 200 graves carefully maintained.
“He took it upon himself to bring it to life,” Maxwell said.
The cemetery was listed in the Waldoborough Historical Society’s grave index, which was compiled by resident Randy Gross some years ago, Maxwell said. However, some of the names on graves Shuman had restored were not yet documented in the book.
Now, the historical society will add those rediscovered names to their records, Maxwell said, enriching the society’s understanding of Waldoboro’s former inhabitants and their history.
Shuman said he wanted to give credit to other cemetery volunteers who work throughout Waldoboro, including some who had helped maintain the Oliver-Bernheimer Cemetery before he and his sons began their mowing. He hopes to continue learning about grave restoration and further his work at this site and others.
“Most people say it wouldn’t be fun. I think it is,” he said. “As long as I’m having fun up there, that’s what it is.”
Neal Shuman, of Waldoboro, stands with the gravestone of his relatives, including his great-uncle Harold R. Shuman, in the Oliver and Bernheimer Cemetery in North Waldoboro. Shuman said his father told him about the family members buried there when he was young. Now, Shuman helps maintain the cemetery and, with his children, has restored the site over the course of about a decade. (Molly Rains photo)
