When history buffs come through the Oak Hill Cemetery during its annual tour Sunday, Monica Gornal will be worried for their well-being.
Gornal, 33, of Munster, is concerned that the more than 150-year-old, 70-acre Hammond cemetery is in no condition to host people walking through it. A regular visitor to the cemetery to visit her great-grandparents’ graves, Gornal noticed that for a month or so, the cemetery has looked a little worse for wear.
The lawn hasn’t been cut nearly as often, she said, and debris has been collected into piles and put in areas where gravestones are less prevalent. Branches from one large tree — a third of which is cracked – envelop several gravestones near the back of the cemetery; another pile of debris lies to the east, on the side of the bike trail bridge. Signs and yellow tape warn of the damage.
The cemetery isn’t nearly as run down as it was five years ago, Gornal said. People can see “dramatic” improvement to most of its perimeter, she said, and it’s no longer a creepy haven in which kids get up to no good. For that, she’s grateful.
But with some headstones cracked and falling over in what she regards as poor upkeep, Gornal wonders if the people in charge of its upkeep really care.
“I’ve been to the North Township office twice this week, and I went to the Mayor’s office, too,” Gornal said Thursday. “I see now that someone came to clean up some of the stuff, but why did it have to happen only after I complained? Where’s the money that’s supposed to be for the cemeteries going?”
According to North Township Operations Director Lori Polgar, the township, which took over the cemetery’s oversight in 2011, oversees three cemeteries for less than $100,000 a year.
In Oak Hill’s case, there are two people employed at the cemetery to keep it in order – a groundskeeper and a cemetery manager, Polgar said, and both do a lion’s share of the grounds work when they don’t have summer help. When bigger issues, such as the fallen trees, the township then has to bid out for the work, and waiting on bids is rarely quick or simple, added North Township Trustee Frank Mr van.
The township can, and has, used City of Hammond Public Works people to help out before. Ultimately, however, the cemetery remains the township’s responsibility – one that it takes seriously, Mr van said.
“With fall approaching, we try to maximize the cleanup as much as we can for the money we spend,” Mr van said. “We plan on getting rid of the downed trees as well as other trees that’re dead.”
Mr van said he’s heard little in the complaint department of Oak Hill’s oversight, and he understands there’s more to do. He hopes people will understand that his office does what it can with in the perimeters he has.
“We have a clear mission – and the public has been supportive – to keep the cemetery in working condition,” he said. “It’s our responsibility.”
Gornal hopes that’s the case.
“I understand government is slow, but you can’t be disrespectful to people’s graves,” she said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
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Cemetery tour Sunday
The Oak Hill Cemetery Tour, 165th Street and Holman Avenue, will start at the cemetery’s north entrance and run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Ticket cost is $5, and proceeds go toward the Hammond Historical Society.