Grove Restoration Project

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The turn out for the June 27th clean-up was another success. Most of the attention was on the house foundation located near the roped off entrance to the main path leading to the cemetery. Over 25 bags of garbage were collected and most of the large items have been removed from this particular area. More work is needed but all of the volunteers did an excellent job and a lot of progress has been made! The location is starting to look better than it has in probably 70 years based on the age of the material found so far. You should be very proud of yourselves!

The cemetery itself remained fairly clean from the May 2nd event and visitors have been using the garbage bags placed at the main gate so it has made a huge difference in the efforts. A big thank you goes out to those of you using the bags to properly dispose of your material and to the visitors that help dispose of the full bags when the GRP is not on site! It certainly allows the volunteers to focus more of their time in other areas that need attention and of course it is simply a joy not to see a bunch of junk everywhere. Good work!

A few photographs were captured during the event and can be found in the 2009 Gallery. There are more clean-ups being scheduled for next month and we look forward to seeing you all there!

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A permit to help clean up the cemetery has been issued for Saturday, June 27th 2009 from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. The permit was granted solely for the purpose of a clean-up that will only consist of removing the trash that has been left behind by visitors to the cemetery. At this point in time all permits that require the use of cutting tools are still on-hold. Please do not bring any other items besides those recommended below.

The main area of attention will be the main path leading to the cemetery as well as a hidden area where there used to be a house. The location where this particular house was located had remained undisclosed due to being a hazard to the public. Further details on the location to the remains of this house will be sent via email to all volunteers.

The only items you should bring are a pair of gloves, a few garbage bags, bug spray and possibly a pick-up stick if you have one.

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The Forest Preserve District of Cook County made a visit this week to remove the three trees that had fallen on the fence which surrounds the cemetery. It was a pleasure to see some activity on their part this early in the year and we look forward to more progress as summer approaches. Good work FPD employees, the family members of those buried there really appreciate it! As well as the volunteers of the GRP of course!

Photographs of their visit can be found in the 2009 Clean-Up section of the Gallery. If you happen to be one of the fortunate visitors who was around while the Forest Preserve District was in action we would very much appreciate any photographs you would be able to contribute. Simply email a coordinator for information on how to submit your material.

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The turn out for the May 2nd clean-up was a success. Not only was the weather excellent but many volunteers came out, including members of the Indiana Ghost Trackers as well as members of John Stephenson’s web site on Bachelors Grove cemetery.

Among the many volunteers was Bill and Marybeth Fath, Stewardship Volunteers for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, with Bill being the Master Steward for the Bachelors Grove Prairie (BGP) restoration team near Bachelors Grove Woods and Bur Oak Woods. He and his wife provided excellent assistance during the clean-up and we look forward to more of their insights upon the care and maintenance of Bachelors Grove cemetery and its surrounding area. It was sure a welcome surprise to have them volunteer their efforts and we look forward to returning the favor in the future!

Another surprise was a newspaper reporter who made a brief visit during the clean-up. For the sake of creating a mystery, we will keep the name of the newspaper a secret… Perhaps another newspaper article will be added to the historical archives some day and help shine some light on the efforts of all that have come out to donate their time and energy in cleaning up the cemetery. We tip our hats to you IGT, a pleasant surprise indeed!

Speaking of shining some light, be sure to keep an eye out for photographs being added to the 2009 Gallery in order to catch a glimpse of the May 2nd clean-up. About double the amount of garbage was removed from the area compared to other clean-ups in the past and none of it would have been possible if it weren’t for all of the wonderful volunteers! You really do make a difference and the family members of those buried there still send in emails expressing gratitude as they observe your efforts from out of state and in different countries.

The path leading to the cemetery, a large section of the wooded area, as well as the cemetery itself, is certainly looking much better and we look forward to many more clean-ups this year. But before we go, if you happen to be one of the few volunteers who did not sign in upon your arrival please be sure send an email so that we may know who you are! We would love to keep you updated on the adventures out at Bachelors Grove and look forward to seeing you again!

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As most of you are aware, the cemetery is under the control and supervision of the Real Estate Management Office of Cook County. Although maintenance of the cemetery is to be shared with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County there are some changes taking place.

It has come to our attention that the Forest Preserve District will be taking over complete ownership and responsibility of the cemetery at some point this year. What this will mean for the true care and maintenance of the cemetery remains to be seen. During these hard fiscal times for Illinois it will be interesting to see how much attention they will be able to give to the cemetery and its surrounding area.

During an attempt to secure a permit for a clean-up in June of this year we were told that during this process of transferring ownership all permit requests will have to be denied. We will keep you updated on further developments as information becomes available.

For the moment all volunteers are still welcome to attend the smaller clean-ups in which we simply pick up trash left behind by visitors to the cemetery. As for any other clean-ups in the future which involve trimming weeds and cutting grass, this duty may, and most certainly should be, handled by the Forest Preserve District themselves. Of course if they can’t maintain the cemetery on a regular basis the GRP will most certainly extend a helping hand. Again, we will keep you updated on further developments as information becomes available.

Take care everyone, see you all on May 2nd!

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A clean-up has been scheduled for May 2nd 2009 from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The clean-up will consist of removing the trash that has been left behind by visitors to the cemetery. The main areas of attention will be the cemetery itself, the general area outside of the fence and the main path leading to the cemetery. Cleaning up the pond has not been added to the schedule. It is being reserved for a future date where all efforts can be focused on just the pond itself.

The only items you should bring are a pair of gloves, a few garbage bags and possibly a pick-up stick if you have one. This part of the season gives us the opportunity to remove a lot of trash before all of the bushes and weeds set in making it difficult to reach areas that don’t get trimmed.

Further details about the May 2nd clean-up will be announced as the date approaches. If you haven’t signed up to be a volunteer you may miss out on some of those details. If you wish to become a volunteer simply visit the section on becoming one.

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Hello everyone! Yes, we are still alive here. The lack of activity does appear to be having some negative impact on those who are interested in helping out but we have not lost direction. Luckily the cemetery has been receiving a lot less vandalism than has been seen in recent years. There is still a lot of progress to be made as it appears that some visitors are still depositing their garbage on the ground. We are thankful to those being witnessed cleaning up the area during a casual visit. Keep up the good work!

An update as to what is happening with the fallen trees and destroyed fencing is that the GRP has been told “not” to attempt to remove them. There are legal reasons for this and hopefully this issue can be resolved at some point. It certainly has become a serious issue due to the barbed wire from the fencing now at ground level and it sure is looking horrible to say the least.

For those of you that have signed up recently to become a volunteer you should expect a response soon. There have been other matters preventing a timely response but rest assured that you will be notified of any future clean-ups. Speaking of volunteering, we are looking forward to more frequent clean-ups. Most of the time we prefer to secure a permit from county officials and only announce those particular clean-ups. There is going to be a change in direction and also announce when there will be clean-ups that do not involve using tools when removing weeds and other such material. Clean-ups that are announced which do not involve the use of tools will consist of cleaning up the cemetery of bottles, aluminum cans, etc,. We will also utilize those times to focus on the general area outside of the cemetery near the fence. This lack of attention to trimming weeds should help make some progress in the general appearance of the area. The pond itself could sure use it! The poor wildlife swimming, eating and drinking in it should not have to endure such a mess!

Until next time everyone, keep up the good work picking up some of the garbage when making a casual visit!

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Hello everyone, and hello again to all of you that we spoke to at the conference! It was a pleasure meeting all of you that stopped by our table and it was wonderful to see some of our old friends as well. Time can go by so quickly and we look forward to keeping in touch with all of you for many years to come.

A special thank you goes out to not only Ursula Bielski and Michael McDowell for bringing together such a great event but also to all the speakers that took the time to come out and to Andrew Wognum for his help with the banner and pamphlets promoting the GRP.

We hope to see you all again next year!

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On October 27th 2007 the Grove Restoration Project will be exhibiting at the first annual Chicago Ghost Conference hosted by Ursula Bielski and Michael McDowell. If you happen to be attending the conference be sure to stop by our table to say hello!

For more information be sure to visit the Chicago Hauntings web site.

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The turn out for the September 16th clean up was a success. A lot of garbage was removed and everyone had a wonderful time meeting each other.

No more than a couple of weeks after the event the Forest Preserve District came out to remove the fallen trees on the main path leading to the cemetery. The Forest Preserve District also did some removal of weeds along the path which not only makes the area look nice but also gives visitors more room as they make their journey toward the cemetery. The main entrance to the path was taken care of as well and it looks better than it has in at least 10 years.

A special thank you goes out to the volunteers that showed up to help ensure a great success! But lets not forget the Real Estate Management Office of Cook County for their assistance. Without them, as well as their friends of the Forest Preserve District, we would all have a much harder time bringing back peace and harmony to the area.