As an all-volunteer, charitable organization, the Friends of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Inc, is marking 20 years of service in providing enhancements, beautification, and education about Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, one of Concord’s veritable treasures.
Initiated in 2002 with the support of the Town’s Cemetery Committee and in continuing collaboration, the Friends with its 13-member Board of Directors has a long list of projects that improved the historic site, including signage at the entrances to the Cemetery and at the recently-renovated Melvin Memorial; maintenance of the plantings at the main flagpole and at Bill’s Garden; hosting a series of well-attended breakfast events featuring guest presenters; purchasing and installing granite benches; writing three publications focusing on the Cemetery’s history and the original obituaries of the luminaries interred there; and establishing the Handley Commemorative Garden.
In honor of this anniversary year, the Friends have made two permanent gifts to the Town: bollards at the Melvin Memorial, and soon-to-be added lettering to the gates at The Knoll portion of the Cemetery, further identifying it as a section of the Cemetery. The title “Sleepy Hollow” is being replicated according to the original that once graced the Pritchard Gate.
