Cemetery board working to restore Boardman's historic Forest Lawn

BOARDMAN

Rather than serve as a collection of memorials to individual people, as many cemeteries do, Forest Lawn Memorial Park is more of a memorial to the area in which it lies.

Or so says Tom Masters, president of the Forest Lawn Cemetery Board.

The park contains many historic features installed throughout the cemetery’s 80-plus years that the board is working to preserve.

One of those features is the stone archway that serves as the

Market Street entrance to the park across the street from Market Street Elementary School.

Visitors entering from Market Street pass under the large Gothic archway before entering the expanse of greenery that stretches between Market and Glenwood Avenue, where there is another entrance.

Repairs are being made to the archway’s mortar joints to keep it from crumbling.

“Hopefully what we can get accomplished this year is almost a total restoration of the front entrance,” Masters said. “We’re trying to save that before permanent damage is done.”

That includes two chandeliers that hang from the entrance that are being restored. Later this year, Masters said the board hopes to have the stone of the cemetery’s chapel repaired.

Read more about the project in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.