March 2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

A STAFF REPORT CONCERNING APPLICATION FOR A CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS mate: March 8, 2004 Application Number: 2004-0305 Property Location: Cripe-Witter Cemetery, Cleveland Road near Meijer Property Owner: German Township Trustee Landmark or District Designation: Local Landmark STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCEMISTORIC CONTEXT The Cripe-Witter Cemetery is one of the remaining features of pioneer settlement and rural heritage along Cleveland Road in German Township. The cemetery is located on the crown of a hill west of the Saint Joseph River and is shaded by many mature trees. Big box development and highways roads have been built near this once quiet resting place. Members of several families with German ancestry and agricultural ties are buried in this cemetery, including individuals from the Hague, Miller, Wagner, Witter, Cripe, and Stutsman families. Many arrived and settled in German Township just after the passage of the 1830 Indian Removal Bill. Chief Pokagon of the Potawatomi Indians may have ceded land in this area to the federal government, which allowed for Caucasian settlement into the area. A public record dated to 1844 notes that the Witter family donated the plot of land for public burial, but the earliest burial may date to 1834. A Civil War veteran was also buried at this cemetery. APPLICATION ITEMS: 1.) Trim dead branches and remove fallen limbs from mature trees. Remove debris, dumped branches and leaves, and over grown brush. �.) Fill depressions where land has sunken. 4.) Repair and reset headstones. REPORT & RECOMMENDATION The Cripe-Witter cemetery is in need of cleaning and maintenance. Many stones are broken and are now piled under trees or next to upright gravestones. Trash blows into the cemetery from nearby parking lots. Staff recommends approval of trimming dead and fallen limbs and removing dumped brush, debris and leaves from the cemetery. This will not remove any important historic landscape elements. The wood coffins used for burial have decayed and collapsed under the weight of the soil and this has created depressions. Some depressions in the cemetery do not have visible stones. Yet, they denote the location of a burial place. (Red flags also note the location of graves with broken or lost markers.) Leveling unmarked depressions would disturb important landscape features that provide information regarding the burial of early settlers. It could cause the loss of knowledge of their locations. Staff recommends unmarked depressions remain unfilled. Staff recommends approval of adding fill and reseeding unlevel ground where a grave marker or a base of a stone is visible as the stone could be lifted and reset onto the leveled ground. Staff recommends approval of cleaning and resetting tilted and leaning stones. The information on Cemetery Preservation Guidance should be followed in regards to these matters. Soft brushes and sponges are the best tools for cleaning the porous marble markers. Bleach and cleaning chemicals will often damage the markers. Orvus soap and Kodak Photo -Flo have been recommended as stone cleaners. :Maff does not recommend resetting stones that have been piled under trees when the original location of the grave arker is not known. Staff recommends approval of the repair of broken markers in cases where the location of the marker is known. Repair should follow gravestone restoration guidelines, especially with regards to epoxies, concrete, and other binders.