CHAMPAIGN — This Veteran’s Day, News Center 7 caught up with a Tipp City man working to restore a cemetery where six Revolutionary War veterans are buried.
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John Zerkle and volunteers have cleared out a lot of the brush and fallen over headstones.
Learning about more of the history at Rector Gard as they clean.
Zerkle said there are six Revolutionary War heroes and two War of 1812 veterans buried there.
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The cemetery is in such bad shape, it’s not clear where their burial sites are.
“It breaks my heart that we don’t know exactly where they are at, but I’m hoping with the research and more and more digging, we will be able to find those graves,” Zerkle said.
He said once News Center 7 aired his story in June, he was flooded with people coming out to help.
“It’s unbelievable we have found so many tombstones, a lot of them are falling over, but we can find them. There’s only a couple of areas that need some work. We’re also getting closer to the original entrance,” Zerkle said.
He said that in the future, they hope to have it transformed and want an official entrance for the cemetery so people in the community can come and pay their respects.
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