Damaged grave stones and a broken down fence are not what the North Edgecomb Cemetery Association wants for the privately owned, 109-year-old cemetery. But these days, mowing the grass is about all the group can afford to do with the donations it collects.

The cemetery is the largest in Edgecomb and one of the best-known ones in town,  partly because it neighbors the town hall. The problem is, fewer and fewer people are alive who have relatives buried there. So the pool of likely contributors is shrinking, association members said.

Last spring, the group got donations from fewer than half of the approximately 82 people it sent letters to. Less than $5,000 was donated, members said.

On November 5, members told selectmen they don't have enough money to turn the cemetery's condition around. They didn't have an estimate for what it would take, but they can get one, they said.

Selectmen and other residents had ideas, such as casting a wider net for donations. People with no direct ties to the cemetery might want to help, out of respect for veterans and others buried there, they said.

Resident Nort Fowler suggested the association get the word out that many lots are still available.

Selectmen plan to find out what money might be available from the Maro F. Hammond Memorial Trust. Income the trust generates can be used to either help beautify Edgecomb or help preserve the town’s heritage, so repairs to the old cemetery should qualify, selectmen said.

“I hate seeing broken stones,” Board of Selectment Chairman Jessica Chubbuck said. Making repairs “just shows respect to loved ones that have gone on,” she said.

The board also encouraged the association to request money in the town's next budget, which will be up for a vote at the annual town meeting in May.

Any donations should be sent to the North Edgecomb Cemetery Association, P.O. Box 56, Edgecomb, ME 04556. If interested in buying a plot, contact the cemetery's superintendent, Allen Hersom, at 882-5024.

Susan Johns can be reached at 844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.