Graves from early 1900’s become unearthed at Arcadia cemetery

Graves dating back to the early 1900’s are becoming unearthed at Arcadia’s Oak Ridge Cemetery.

A passerby believed it was vandalism when he recently saw a grave so badly degraded he saw human remains inside. But Beth Carsten, the assistant city administrator of Arcadia, said time and weather are causing the older graves to crack and sink.

Since Oak Ridge is a public cemetery the city takes care of the grass and trees, but “the responsibility to maintain the graves are the owners of the plots,” Carsten says.

The city acted quickly putting blue tarps on the oldest and most worn down graves. The plan for the future is to cover the cracked and sunken graves with dirt and sod to protect them.

The hope is to track down the relatives of the deceased buried here, to see if they’re interested in updating the headstone or vault. Carsten’s job is to find them by searching through records, word of mouth, and talking to the news.

Oak Ridge is special and personal for Carsten too because her father is buried there. ” Knowing that they’re safe and secure is very important more so than it just being a job it’s personal to me,” Carsten says.

If you believe you have a relative buried at Oak Ridge, you can call the city at 863-494-4114.