It only takes tenacity, muscle, and the ability to do small amounts of fundraising to make a difference.
Last Saturday, the Trinity College Men’s Squash Team provided the muscle.
At Zion Hill Cemetery, they helped to plant more trees, including physically lugging containers of water up a hill. This moves the graveyard closer to achieving arboretum status.
The students began to mark out the spaces for new benches, making sure the bases were level. Providing places to sit sends the message that people are welcome to spend time at Zion Hill Cemetery, whether they are visiting loved ones’ graves or simply seeking a quiet place to relax and reflect.
Other team members picked up litter. This only required a few people, instead of a dozen — a sign of how cemetery conditions have improved thanks to ongoing TLC.
The Trinity students joined with Friends of Zion Hill Cemetery, who gathered at the Caretaker’s Cottage by the Zion and Ward entrance. The building has been prepped and will be painted in upcoming weeks by a local-to-Hartford, minority-owned painting business. It will not be a demure shed going forward, that’s for sure! The photograph below hints at some color combination possibilities.
Another improvement that visitors may notice: the potters field has been intentionally left as a meadow, giving birds a place to nest, chill out, and do whatever birds do.
