By Roy Danz, Granite Historical Society Vice-President, 11/05/2021
The Granite Historical Society recently secured funding from the Patapsco Heritage Greenway to clean-up and landscape a Quaker family cemetery on Wrights Mill road. This burial site of the Hartley family dates from around 1850 and is known to many as Quaker Hill Cemetery. The burial ground is no stranger to GHS preservation efforts as a similar event was undertaken late in the last century. The 20+ plus years since that clean-up have taken their toll on the cemetery with weed overgrowth and site makers fallen and others broken at their foundation. This is not to mention the repeated harm done by Baltimore county snow plows and grass cutters to the wrought iron fence that surrounds the site.
On Wednesday October 27th, after consulting with the property owner and landscapers Ezra and Carol Link, work began to clear the site and prepare the bare ground for seed. Collection of the yard waste from the clean-up was completed on Sunday, October 31st as were final seeding and straw mulching of the area. The landscapers were assisted in their efforts by the property owner and members of the GHS. (Nothing like working in and around a cemetery on Halloween!) Special thanks to local volunteers who provided a dump trailer to haul the debris and muscle to load the trailer and help with minor repairs to the wrought iron fence. The Society also wishes again to acknowledge the graciousness of the property owner who wishes to preserve and protect this part of Granite history.
A temporary sign on the site was erected that contains a link to a page about the cemetery with information on the cemetery and research on the Hartley and related family members buried at the site. Future plans include additional research on the Hartley family genealogy and land transactions in the area known as Quaker Hill. The Society also hopes to erect a more permanent site marker, repair the fencing, look at methods to preserve the existing burial stones, and develop a maintenance plan for the cemetery so future clean-up efforts would be minimized.
Quaker Hill Cemetery Before the Clean Up
Quaker Hill Cemetery after Phase 1 of Clean Up
