Cole County Cemetery Restoration Group

The group - Darrell Strope, Darrell Schubert, Linda Dunbar, Roger Hager, Denise Wingate and Nancy Thompson - has been working to restore the cemetery since July. They have a history of restoring cemeteries and resetting headstones in the Cole County area since the 1990s. They have completely restored 34 cemeteries and done 19 restorations that involved only stone repairs.

The restoration group decided to work on Old St. Peters #1 Cemetery because it was in such bad shape. The group became aware that there were a lot of tombstones in the defined cemetery grounds that had been covered over with dirt. Thompson said that "They need to be saved because it is such a historic cemetery." The cemetery, which is located behind the Heisinger Lutheran Home on West Main Street, opened with its first burial in 1854. The last recorded burial took place in 1885. The cemetery has 156 recorded burials based off a list made in 1940. However, it's actually unknown how many people have been buried at the cemetery.

The following is a listing of the cemeteries restored by various crews.