GREENVILLE – On Tuesday June 11 at 6 p.m., the Greenville Public Library will host local historian Richard Halley who will present “The Water Street Cemetery Is Not a Park.” Richard has evidence that shows the Water Street Cemetery has always remained a cemetery, that is, it was never retired as a cemetery and changed to park status.
He will use primary documents to trace its history from the early 1800’s to the present. These records and deeds reveal a detailed story about legal ownership, early Greenville citizens buried in the cemetery, and proposed improvements that were never completed.
Those with relatives buried at Water Street will not want to miss this information. Richard has a special interest in the cemetery as he and his uncle Richard Westerman built the commemorative walls that hold fragments of some of the early tombstones.
He will recount the story of how the tombstones were removed and scattered and how the late Florence Magoto and Bea Campbell retrieved a number of remnants. In the fall 1998 the two Richards began designing and constructing the walls (see photo). The walls were dedicated Memorial Day 1999.
