Apollo Cemetery cleanup set; Scout to finish cleaning almost 100 veteran tombstones

After a rallying cry two years ago, the efforts to restore the Apollo Cemetery in Kiski Township have been bolstered by volunteers, donations and the elbow grease of Boy Scouts.

Volunteers and donations are needed for a spring cleanup from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 27.

The Apollo Area Lions Club has been responsible for upkeep of the historic cemetery, which is without a viable owner.

The site is the final resting place of a slew of local historical residents, including the first tomb of Samuel McCartney Jackson, a Civil War general whose many battles included Gettysburg; and the Honorable Judge Michael Cochran and his wife, Catharine, parents of renowned journalist Nellie Bly.

The graveyard sits behind Riverview Cemetery at the end of Highland Avenue. It was laid out in 1868; however, residents were buried there decades earlier.

There are 85 Civil War veterans as well as World War I veterans among the estimated 1,200 grave sites.

A few years ago, old trees were uprooting some tombstones, vandals toppled and defaced others and a number of dead trees needed felled with cost estimates of the tens of thousands of dollars.

But in recent years, dead trees have been cut, a backhoe reset misaligned tombstones, two maintenance sheds were added and Boy Scouts cleaned the sooty buildup on the tombstones of veterans, said William Kerr, the Lions Club chairman of the cemetery committee.

“We’re in better shape, but we can’t let up,” Kerr said. “There’s so much to take care of.”

Kerr says the cemetery is an asset to the region.

“There’s a peacefulness and tranquility when you walk those grounds and see all of those names,” he said. “It’s like a living history.”

A larger pool of volunteers and donations in the past few years have helped tremendously, he said.

The late Dr. John Kautz, a longtime dentist and Apollo Council president, and his wife, Bonnie, both active with First United Church of Christ, closed the church in 2019 and bequeathed $4,000 to the cemetery. Then, the First Lutheran Church of Apollo contributed $4,000 from two years of special Lenten season giving.

Many individual donations helped the cause as well.

Major volunteer efforts have included a Kiski Township Boy Scout taking on cleaning the veteran tombstones for his Eagle Scout project. Cole Rearick, 17, of Kiski Township, a Boy Scout with Troop 589, is close to finishing cleaning close to 100 tombstones. He spent many Saturdays last year with other Scouts scrubbing the granite and marble tombstones, according to his mother, Erica . There is still some work left to complete this year.

“If you care about your community and/or care about history, we’re always happy to have another set of hands on deck,” she said.