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Ernest Wilson has been looking for his great-aunt, and after three years, he’s finally found her.
Wilson’s Aunt Lydia is not living in one of the newly built colonial homes of Chapel Green outside Lewes. Instead, she and three other relatives lie in an overgrown patch of land surrounded by hundred-thousand-dollar homes.
The problem, says Wilson, is that the forgotten gravesite is not as manicured as the well-kept lawns surrounding the historic cemetery.
Nor do residents want to see the morbid markers in the now overgrown woods, he says.
Wilson said he’s offered to pay to clean up the burial ground, but he wants homeowners to contribute to cleanup costs – especially since they own the property.
His hands are tied because the property’s not his, he says, and after a disagreement with nearby homeowners, they’ve refused to let him set foot on the ground where his relatives are buried.
Some homeowners say they shouldn’t be responsible for footing the bill to spruce up the cemetery. They say for more than 50 years, no one has been concerned about the burial ground, and their budget does not permit them to fix up the 13 gravesites.
Chapel Green Homeowners’ Association President Patty Beshara said homeowners prefer the forested tract of land the way it is.
Residents don’t want to look at tombstones from their front yards anyway, she added.
Used as dump
Sassafras trees, wrapped in honeysuckle vines, have sprouted up around the old stone markers. Briars and ivy blanket some tombstones, hiding them from sight. Neighbors also have desecrated his relatives’ burial ground by dumping grass clippings and cut branches on the site, says Wilson, who lives in Jacksonville, N.J.
According to covenants of the Chapel Green Homeowners’ Association, the cemetery is their responsibility, but it’s also at the homeowners’ discretion how to spend the $400 yearly dues assigned to each of its 205 members, says Beshara.
“They’re obligated both morally and legally,” Wilson said.
Not so, says Beshara.
“It’s not our responsibility to maintain the property. It’s common space, but it’s a cemetery. It’s kind of like the wetlands. We maintain it as we maintain the wetlands – we don’t,” Beshara said.
The controversy began in September, when Wilson approached the homeowners and asked them if they would help clean up the burial ground.
The homeowners granted Wilson permission to enter the property – if he signed a waiver not to hold the homeowners responsible for any injuries. At the same time, the board also unanimously decided not to pay for the cleanup.
Not a priority
“Our position was not to pay expenses – from the homeowners’ point of view,” Beshara said. She said the homeowners’ association board has limited funds that could come from a potential $82,000 in yearly dues. “We have to prioritize for the community at large to maintain the streets, the clubhouse, our wastewater system. I don’t believe anybody ever wanted to take care of it. Why should we foot the bill?” She added, “He was welcome to do it. Mr. Wilson had the permission. He wanted the money though,” Beshara said. “But, aesthetically, people don’t want to see it.”
After the board decided not to help fund the project, Wilson filed a complaint with Sussex County Constable Alan Holloway.
Since then, the board voted not to allow anyone on the property – period.
“We put a moratorium on cleaning it up, pending the results of the constable’s office decision,” Beshara said.
Holloway said the county has no ordinances or laws in place governing cemeteries. “Basically what you have is a civil case between Mr. Wilson and Chapel Green,” Holloway said.
Wilson has since hired an attorney.
He points to a cemetery at Pinewater Farms near Georgetown where residents cleaned it up – out of their own good will – and installed a plaque with the names of those who donated their money or time.
“This is disgraceful. This is shameful. Look, the neighbors even dumped their brush here,” Wilson said.
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