Burlington is known for its neighborhoods like the Old North End, the New North End and the South End. Yet the Queen City’s oldest neighborhood, which began as a hub for the mills along the Winooski River, lacked a popular nickname until recently.
The Old East End Neighborhood Coalition was founded in 2018 by a group of people hoping to calm the traffic in their busy neighborhood and to create a more connected community. The group has installed a mural by Tara Goreau, added benches to Schmanska Park and become a caretaker of Greenmount Cemetery.
Jason Stuffle is a member of OEENC who has lived on Colchester Avenue for 16 years, across the road from Greenmount Cemetery. During the pandemic, the green space got a lot more use from people working from home. Jason was one of these newly remote workers, and he began cleaning the accumulated decades’ — and sometimes centuries’ — worth of dirt from the tombstones so the inscriptions were visible. Jason estimates that he’s cleaned more than 150 markers since he began his COVID-19 hobby.
Eva tagged along while Jason removed 70 plus years of grime from a married couple’s stones and learned about the history of some of the cemetery’s residents.
They met up again on Sunday with a few members of the OEENC to install 118 metal military markers with flags at veterans’ graves.
Disclosure: Eva lives in the Old East End with her mother, Sophie Quest, who is one of the founders of this group.
Music: Joel Cummins, “Pastorale” & “Billy Goat Stomp”
Filming dates: 8/6/21 & 8/8/21
This episode of Stuck in Vermont was supported by New England Federal Credit Union.
This article appears in The Animal Issue 2021.
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