PITTSTON -- Thanks to a group of volunteers a centuries-old cemetery in Luzerne county has been spruced up.
The Pittston cemetery will be rededicated later this year and so folks wanted to be sure the place is looking the way it should after the hallowed resting place has fallen on hard times.
The call went out for help and these volunteers answered that call and got to work at the Pittston cemetery.
About 50 men, women and teens cleared brush, pushed lawnmowers, hacked at weeds that had grown up over these grave markers.
The Greater Pittston Historical Society could not do all this work alone and organized the clean-up effort.
"Because it's human nature to want to take care of the people who're relatives of you and human beings that are buried here there are a lot of veterans here," said Ron Faraday.
There was help from the naval reserve center in Avoca and the city of Pittston pitched in with some trucks to haul away the debris.
Sam Lombardo of Pittston has grandparents buried among these 50 acres of sacred ground and would visit from time to time, cleaning their plots.
"I would look around and think something has to be done and it's a tribute to Ron Faraday who put this all together, he got us all here today," said Lombardo.
According to organizers, the cemetery can only afford to have one person be caretaker for the entire place. Meaning memorials to fallen heroes and victims of mine disasters were in need of a little trim around the edges.
"Just to show some respect for the history, we have a lot of veterans buried here, we have a lot of, it dates back to the 1800s and earlier and just to clean it back up and bring it back to the condition it should be in," said Bob Price of DuPont.
And with the help of these volunteers the hope is to have the Pittston cemetery ready for a re-dedication ceremony on Veterans day in November.
For that, they want a cemetery looking the way a cemetery should look, no matter its age.
After the cleanup, the Greater Pittston Historical Society plans to have walking tours of the cemetery.