Restoring An Overgrown Cemetery
When
River Products Company, Inc., purchased property near Riverside from
Charles Strabala, the company made an unusual promise: "We will restore
a small cemetery on the property east of Harry’s Road." The cemetery
was overgrown with vines, grasses, trees, and poison ivy. Only a few of
the headstones were visible.
Company
employees started work on the cemetery in fall 2006. When they had
located the headstones, footstones, and markers they matched them with
a WPA Grave Records listing and realized they hadn’t begun to find all
the stones that were originally there. By probing the cemetery in
sections, they found all but two of the headstones on the list—and four
that weren’t on the list.
Some
whole stones were buried four to six inches. Some broken pieces were
found next to each other buried in the dirt. Bases
were dug up and matched to their headstones. Then the employees fixed
and cleaned all stones that could be repaired. For burial sites where
names could not be identified, sandstone markers were replaced with
more durable Wisconsin limestone marked “Rest in Peace.”
When
the work began, the cemetery was known locally as the Strabala
Cemetery. When researched, it was found to be the Cline Cemetery,
dating back to the 1840s when the Cline family owned the land where the
cemetery is located and adjacent farmland.
To
reach the cemetery from Iowa City, take Hwy. 218/27 south to Hills exit
and turn east. At a four-way stop, turn right onto Oak Crest Hill Road
W64 and go south 2.3 miles to Harry’s Road S.E. Turn left and
follow to River Products Sand Plant. Turn left into the drive and drive
east to the cemetery which is surrounded by a new white fence. (Source: Iowa City Genealogical Society
Newsletter, August 2010) | 
