Police set up camera, patrols to counter graveyard trespassing

LACONIA — Behind VFW Post 1670 in Laconia rests the historic Meredith Bridge Cemetery. The grave yard is home to some tombstones that date as far back as 1805, providing a treasure trove for local history buffs. Most of these stones have stood against the grinding teeth of time for more than a century, but many others lie broken by vandalism. 

Last month, the Sun counted approximately 33 stones that were either currently broken or repaired. Some were positioned sunny side-up but in one piece, snapped from their base, while others lay in jagged fragments. A few appeared to have been glued back together, only to be broken again. 

Meredith Bridge is one of nine inactive cemeteries in the area managed by the city. “It’s not an active cemetery so it's not that people are going there to grieve.” said Amy Lovisek, director of recreation and facilities at Laconia Parks & Recreation. “People are going there to research more than anything else.”

"Most of the people in that cemetery were moved from the original cemetery, approximately where Bootleggers is right now,” said Laconia Historical and Museum Society volunteer Virginia Hansen. “Back in the Civil War era, they decided to develop downtown and they moved everyone to Meredith Bridge.”

The stones, Hansen says, are the only remaining clues telling historians who is buried at the site because the official records are long gone. 

“The oldest graves are very important to genealogists and historians,” Hansen said. “If that information becomes lost, it’s lost forever. We should care because it’s the right thing to do.”

Hansen also added that there are graves from the 1900s in Meredith Bridge, with the most recent dating to 1997.

“That’s not that long ago,” Hansen said. “There were burials in the 1900s, not a lot, so there still could be family members visiting those graves.”

In addition to mowing the grass and picking up trash, the Parks and Recreation Department is also responsible for paying for repairs. 

“We’re given $5,000 a year as a budget for the nine cemeteries,” Lovisek said. “Mostly that $5,000 goes towards damaged stones if we need it.”

When it comes to tombstone repair, Lovisek says their go-to guy is Charlie Beede, owner and operator of Beede Cemetery Lettering.

“If I can just use epoxy to fix it it’s like a $20 fix,” Beede said of repairing stones. “If I have to use aluminum sleeves to mend it, it pushes up around 100 bucks. It all depends on size shape and what the damage is. Some of them aren’t repairable."

Beede’s craft, like many trades in the U.S., is facing declining interest among young people. Now there’s fewer stone workers available to make repairs. 

“I don’t know why anyone else won’t step up to the plate and to it,” Beede said, “people don’t want to get their hands dirty anymore.”

Beede’s one-man operation is spread thin throughout Belknap County, and he’s been too booked to work on Laconia’s older cemeteries. 

“2020 was the last time I made it through Laconia cemetery,” Beede said. “I was just overwhelmed with work. It isn’t any better this year. I got tons of people coming in buying stones for their kids because of overdoses and suicides. It’s just overwhelming. Very little with COVID I’m getting.”

In addition to the cost of repairs, those vandalizing graves can face serious criminal charges. According to New Hampshire law, anyone in violation of RSA 635:6 (interference with cemetery or burial ground), “shall be guilty of a class B felony.” 

Kicking over a tombstone could be punished by up to seven years in prison and fines as high as $2000. 

In Beede’s experience, tombstone vandalism tends to be a result of random misdirected rage, not targeted disrespect of the dead.

“It’s some guy who’s pissed off at his girl or something,” Beede said. “Why they take it out on monuments, I have no idea, but I find that seems to be most of the case.”

“All I know is that it’s happening,” Lovisek said, stating that she wasn’t sure who exactly is responsible for breaking stones at Meredith Bridge. “I know there is a homeless population down there.” 

“We’ve had a significant number of transient people that have taken it up as a place to hang out,” said Laconia Police Chief Matt Canfield. “It’s been rectified now, but there were some transient people down there camping. They’ve been removed.”

During the Sun’s visit, there was no current sign of encampment, but many cigarette butts littered the cemetery, especially the area around an above ground tomb. Trash bins were chocked full of garbage, indicating that the grounds had been recently cleaned, but that there was also a lot of human activity.

“We just recently put up signage stating the hours which are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.,” said Lovisek, “we let them put on the same sign that smoking and drinking are prohibited of course, being that it’s city property. We’re putting it out there so they’re aware of the rules. It's not a place that people should be loitering, but it’s a public facility.”

Canfield said his department put up a pole camera in the cemetery about a week ago. The camera’s feed can be monitored remotely by the station.

“We’ll probably keep it up for a while until we’re confident that the problem is displaced,” Canfield said. The police chief also noted that they are conducting extra patrols at Meredith Bridge.