South Jersey Girl Scouts Bring Life to Old Gravestones

A South Jersey Girl Scout Troop based near Pittsgrove, Cumberland County, is getting attention for one of its public service projects.

The Girl Scouts in Troop 96257 spent Monday at Vineland's Siloam Cemetery.

After being given a demonstration on how to clean gravestones, the girls pitched in to clean some of the stones themselves.

South Jersey Girl Scout Troop Cleans Gravestones

In a Facebook post, Chris Muhen recognized the Girl Scout Troop for its hard work and dedication to the job.

Thank you to Troop 96257 for your hard work. We had a stone cleaning demonstration for them and now they are cleaning stones from the 1870s.

Girl Scout Troop 96257, active since 2024, consists of 12 4th and 5th-grade girls from Cumberland County. These girls do quite a bit more than sell cookies.

The reaction to the girls' good deed at the cemetery is a hit on Facebook.

This is truly awesome on so many levels. First, and foremost the young people willing to do this is so very special in our world today.

 

What a wonderful job the Girl Scouts are doing!

 

That's awesome.

 

This is absolutely beautiful and so generous!

 

The Cemetery Is Historically Important

The gravestone in Siloam Cemetery could use a good washing. Siloam is the oldest cemetery in Vineland and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

The cemetery, at 550 North Valley Avenue, was established in 1864 on a plot of land donated by Charles K. Landis, the founder of Vineland, who is buried in the cemetery.

Other notable historical figures, such as New Jersey suffragist and activist Portia Gage and the developer of Welch's grape juice, Thomas Bramwell Welch, are also interred at Siloam Cemetery.