If your local genealogy society doesn't like the way a cemetery is being preserved, there is a simple solution: buy it!
The Hecla Cemetery in Osceola Township near Laurium, Michigan hasn’t been used since 1935, but members of the Houghton-Keweenaw County Genealogical Society are working to make it into a sort of outdoor museum of copper mining-era history.
The Hecla Cemetery in Osceola Township near Laurium, Michigan hasn’t been used since 1935, but members of the Houghton-Keweenaw County Genealogical Society are working to make it into a sort of outdoor museum of copper mining-era history.
Avis West, president of the Society, said that, over the decades, the cemetery had many owners. It was created by the Calumet Mining Co., which later became the Calumet & Hecla Mining Co. Other owners included two land trust companies, the most recent of which sold it to the society.
Since the society has no liability insurance, an arrangement was made to donate the property to Calumet Township, which does. Using a conservation easement, the society will be responsible for maintenance of the cemetery and further inventorying of the site.
You can read more in an article by Kurt Hauglie in the South Bend Tribune at http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100913/News01/100919705/
