Summer project will restore George Sears Greene Cemetery

By ETHAN HARTLEY
Posted 4/4/19

By ETHAN HARTLEY The historic cemetery holding the remains of Warwick-born Civil War hero General George Sears Greene will be given a much-needed restoration, thanks to a state grant and matching funds from the Apponaug Area Improvement Association.

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Summer project will restore George Sears Greene Cemetery

Posted

The historic cemetery holding the remains of Warwick-born Civil War hero General George Sears Greene will be given a much-needed restoration, thanks to a state grant and matching funds from the Apponaug Area Improvement Association. Improvements are expected to be completed by this summer.

Located atop a hill behind the Warwick FOP Lounge and looking down upon the heart of Apponaug, the George Sears Greene cemetery is currently only accessible via a steep hill laden with intermittent wooden planks providing minimal stability for those who want to visit. The cemetery itself has been nobly upkept by the Warwick Historic Cemeteries Commission, but age causing degradation to the metal fencing and damage to headstones from vandals has become readily apparent.

“It’s kind of sad,” lamented Pegee Malcolm, who heads the Historic Cemeteries Commission, during a visit to the cemetery on Tuesday afternoon. “Not a lot of people know that he’s here, but he was instrumental in the North winning the war.”

General Greene was born “just steps” from City Hall in Apponaug Village on May 6, 1801. He would go on to graduate second in his class at West Point. He was married with three children by the age of 27, but tragically would lose all four of those family members within just 16 months. In 1837, Greene married again and had six children, five of which would live long lives.

After becoming a successful civil engineer in New York, Greene re-enlisted in the Army at the age of 60 in 1861, where he accepted the command of the 60th New York Infantry and was named a colonel, shortly thereafter being promoted to brigadier general. He played a pivotal role in both the Battle of Antietam, where he held off an attack from General Thomas Jackson, and the Battle of Gettysburg, where he famously held enemy forces from advancing up Culp’s Hill utilizing a strong fortification of breastworks while his forces were outnumbered 3,964 to 1,424.

Following the end of the Civil War, Greene went back to oversee civil engineering projects in New York, Washington D.C., Detroit and even did work on the sewer systems in Providence. He was elected president of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1877, an organization he helped found in 1852. He died at 98 years old on January 28, 1899, at which point he was interred on the hill located on his property in Apponaug.

Greene is buried alongside many relatives, including his wife and children. His headstone is actually a boulder that was taken from the Gettysburg battlefield – the last such boulder to be allowed to be removed from the hallowed grounds, according to Malcolm. His battle saber was adorned to the rock, but was stolen. Miraculously, it found its way to a junkyard and then back to Warwick City Hall, where it still resides in a display case, alongside the original inscription stone that marked his grave, to this day.

Legacy renewed

The approximately $222,000 project is anchored by an $89,100 grant from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), and is matched by over $140,000 from the Apponaug Area Improvement Association, much of which comes from their allocation of federal Community Development Block Grant funds. No city budget funds are tied up into the project, but Malcolm said that in-kind work from the city’s Department of Public Works was a possibility.

The scope of work which will be conducted by the winning bidder, Bradford Design Associated, will include the creation of several parking spaces dedicated for visiting the cemetery, a multi-tiered staircase leading up to the site with informational plaques along each tier that dig into the history of the surrounding points of interest – such as City Hall and the pond directly below. There will also be benches installed and the iron fencing will be replaced, along with other “aesthetic and functional enhancements”

Malcolm said that her commission of nine dedicated individuals, along with two stalwart volunteers, would also be helping with the project and cleaning up graves.

“It’s been a great community effort to bring this to the table,” said Lucas Murray of the planning department, who is leading the city’s efforts for the restoration, to the City Council during their April 1 meeting. “This project will restore access to one of Warwick's most important cultural landmarks so we may once again honor General Greene's extraordinary efforts and ongoing legacy.”

“This effort will also begin the process of mending the fabric of Apponaug Village after several long years of construction and a reconfiguration of transportation corridors in the area,” Murray added.

Council members, too, were enthusiastic about the prospects of the project and the impact it could have for Apponaug.

“This is an exciting project,” said Ward 7 Councilman Steve McAllister. “This is an area that has kind of been stuck for a long time because of all the construction… This will be a great asset to our city.”

“I can't wait to see it done because we've all been waiting a long time to have this done,” said Ward 6 Councilwoman Donna Travis, referencing the fact that the DEM grant was originally awarded in 2013.

Site work on the cemetery is slated to begin this summer. Historical information in this article was meticulously collected and provided by local historians Tom Foley and Brian Giout.

Comments

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  • patientman

    Nice project. Too bad this is taxpayer dollars instead of donations from private individuals, Foundations and local businesses. I have never heard of any publicity of the project.

    Thursday, April 4, 2019 Report this

  • davebarry109

    It's fantastic that this is finally happening. Can the folks involved be asked to add SECURITY CAMERAS? Even if they are battery/solar powered or a power source has to be run. This area is largely unknown to most due to its isolation and the difficulty in reaching it. Once it is 'improved', vandals will find it, unfortunately.

    Thursday, April 4, 2019 Report this