Restoration of cemetery in Allen County underway

ALLEN COUNTY, Ky.- What once was a place of rest now is a place of restoration after a cemetery was vandalized in Allen County.

News 40 caught up with volunteers and the pastor of the church. Take a look at how the community is coming together to support the restoration of the tombstones.

The Allen County Sheriff’s Office is searching for those involved with knocking over tombstones at Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church’s cemetery. 

The tombstones that were mostly pushed over ranged from 800 to 2,000 pounds per grave site.

It took nearly eight people just to lift an 800-pound stone to put it back in place.

Community leaders say that destroying these historic sites is unbearable for the families whose loved ones are buried there.

Billy Wilkerson from the Simpson County Historical Society said, “It’s a lot of family members here that got affected by this type of destruction.”

 The place where relatives pay their respects to those that passed, now families worry about their loved ones being disrespected.

“The word that comes to mind is heartbreak that anybody would do that, like why? What was the point? Other than being pure menace but it’s just heartbreaking, but it’s nice to see the community come together to help us repair what was broken,” said Allison Gregory, pastor of Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church.

The cemetery holds graveyard dates from the 1880s to those who died of the yellow fever.

Volunteers not only spent time repairing tombstones, but they also cleaned them which comes with a price.

“It’s going to cost the church money to fix it,” Gregory said.

The church is raising money to help restore broken tombstones. Wilkerson says more than one person had to be involved in doing the crime.

“At least four or five people. Some of these stones are big. It could probably take three about three but there’s some that would take about three, four to five people,” he said.

Some of the stones were fully detached from the base and others were completely pushed over.

Community leaders say that while the divide in graves and tombstones is disheartening, it brought unity and hands pouring in to help with restoration.

“I hope they learned a lesson and see how this community can together as a whole to fix their mess,” Wilkerson said.

“We are certain that the Lord will provide,” said Gregory.

News 40 will continue to follow this story and provide updates as they are made available.