The Lewisburg House and Garden Club held their September meeting on the porch of Old Stone Presbyterian Church. President Jeri Via presided. Mimi deOllioqui and Suzanne Cronquist hosted the group. The secretary and the treasurer presented their reports and committee chairs did the same.
Townley Hamilton reported on the Sunflower projects at the Lewisburg and the Ronceverte Elementary Schools. A motion was made to present each school with a monetary gift for their help in seeing this project through in light of the pandemic. The motion passed and checks will be given to the two schools. The Executive Committee submitted to the club for their consideration three proposed changes to the club’s bylaws. Changes involved raising of the club dues, increasing the number of active members from thirty to thirty-five and changing the date dues are to be paid. The club will vote on the proposed changes at the October meeting.
The club sponsors two plots in the Old Stone Cemetery. Skip Deegans was asked to give the club a tour of the cemetery and to tell of the work that has been done on plots. Deegans has been recognized as a West Virginia History Hero by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History.
Deegans described the work that went into the fence around the Erskine plot which was the latest one adopted by the Lewisburg House and Garden Club. The fence was discovered for sale in Alderson by Lynn Brody of Lewisburg. It was purchased for the Cemetery by Morgan Bunn of Raleigh, NC. Deegans took it to a blacksmith in Clifton Forge where it was mended and sized for the plot. The blacksmith also made a gate for the fence. His work was paid for by the Lewisburg House and Garden Club. There had been a fence around the Erskine plot, but had been removed. It is understood the iron fences in the cemetery were removed during either WWI or WWII. The original concrete base for fence had to be removed and new forms poured. Deegans and William Martin of Dawson did this work and erected the new fence. The Lewisburg House and Garden Club paid Mr. Martin for his work. Deegans sanded and painted the fence. The plot will be planted in the spring.
The Lewisburg House and Garden Club paid for the landscaping of the Crist plot under the direction of member, Dee Dotson. She has given many hours to its maintenance. The Club also paid for the fence around the memorial statue for Maud Mathews. That fence was found in Adamstown, PA, and came from the lawn of a house in Harrisburg, PA. It, too, was repaired and sized by the same blacksmith and installed by William Martin. The fence was also painted by Deegans. The landscaping for this plot was paid for by the Colonial Dames.
The Lewisburg House and Garden Club is proud of the role they have played in preserving these final resting places.
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