Cranberry Horn Cemetery, which straddles Cundy’s Harbor Road near its intersection with Oak Ledge Road, will have no active management when a key volunteer steps down in November.
The cemetery has graves that date back to the 1700s. Volunteers manage new burials, clean gravestones, maintain the site, and raise funds for mowing and other costs.
The town contributes to the maintenance of veterans’ graves and mowing, as it does at each of Harpswell’s cemeteries, allocating $6,000 for Cranberry Horn Cemetery in 2024.
The cemetery’s group of volunteers has dwindled to almost none. Jen Stuart, of Cundy’s Harbor, manages the cemetery. She serves as the point of contact for burials and plot sales, and arranges mowing and cleanups, among other tasks.
Stuart has volunteered for close to 10 years, since a previous group of volunteers bowed out. George Swallow also helps, by marking graves for burials.
Stuart told the Anchor in a text message that she simply doesn’t have time for the cemetery alongside managing a business and property with her husband, watching her grandkids, and other personal obligations.
“There aren’t enough hours in our days to manage this as it should be handled,” she said. She intends to stay on until Veterans Day, although she will continue volunteering on cleanup days.
The cemetery’s future after Veterans Day is unknown. Stuart has said before that she hopes the town will take over the cemetery. She has proposed creating a town cemetery department to manage cemetery operations.
The town conducted a review of the needs of Harpwell’s five private cemeteries in 2023, but hasn’t taken new action since.
Harpswell currently owns two cemeteries that had been abandoned: Graveyard Point Cemetery, near the end of Harpswell Neck, and Old Meetinghouse Cemetery, in Harpswell Center.
Town Administrator Kristi Eiane said in an email that the town has initiated a review of Cranberry Horn Cemetery’s property, records and organizational history in order to determine the town’s responsibilities after the cemetery is abandoned. Eiane said town officials hope to meet with cemetery representatives as part of that process.
It’s unclear if the cemetery will continue any operations. Cranberry Horn Cemetery has open space for plots, unlike the other two abandoned cemeteries.
At least one couple — longtime residents of Cundy’s Harbor — decided to look elsewhere because of the cemetery’s uncertain future. Because one is a veteran, they were able to purchase a plot in the Orr’s Island Cemetery, which excepts Harpswell veterans from its island residency requirements.
Stuart herself owns a burial plot at Cranberry Horn, where she still hopes she and her family can be buried. She isn’t sure if that will be possible, saying that decision is now out of her hands. She guesses that burials in already purchased plots may still be honored after the cemetery is abandoned, but that new plots probably will not be sold anymore.
The cemetery will turn over its remaining funds to the town after Stuart resigns. She declined to give the amount, but described it as modest.
Gerry York, president of the Orr’s Island Cemetery Association, told the Anchor in an email that his organization has had informal conversations about whether to change its residency requirements, but he called that unlikely.
York believes any new organization at Cranberry Horn Cemetery would need at least three people to manage operations, and another five dedicated volunteers to keep the cemetery clean and raise funds. York said his association also has discussed the possibility of assisting or advising a group that wants to step up at Cranberry Horn Cemetery, if such a group emerges.
He hopes Stuart’s resignation will alert people to the cemetery’s struggles and uncertain future.
“No one thinks about cemeteries until you need one,” York said.
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