Rumbarger Cemetery

7/4/2015

A beautiful view from high on top of Rumbarger.

7/4/2015

July 4th 2015

Our front flower bed. All the rain has helped the flowers this summer.

A Black bird perched high on top of the Knarr Monument. Getting a "birds eye view" of the City.

Child's Mausoleum 7/4/2015

Soldiers Circle July 4th 2015.

Any Pifers in the area that may have relatives at Rumbarger?

Newly landscaped front entrance.

The rebuilt stone wall to the left of the Soldiers Circle.

Thank you! We have some very dedicated volunteers, along with summer help from the City of DuBois. We are grateful to the many local businesses and citizens that continue to support us with this huge undertaking. Being almost 8 acres, the cemetery is huge and needs a lot of care.

RUMBARGER CEMETERY and the RUMBARGER CEMETERY PRESERVATION SOCIETY John Rumbarger ( 1810-1889 ) was the original founder of the community that became the City of DuBois. He set aside the seven and a half-acre Rumbarger Cemetery site off Main Street, DuBois. Eventually the historic cemetery grew to contain some 1800 known burial sites with about 1500 headstones. Included among them is John Rumbarger's final resting place. After years of neglect, the Rumbarger Cemetery Preservation Society ( R.C.P.S. ) along with the help of the City of DuBois, has successfully undertaken the task of reclaiming and restoring the property, which is the oldest cemetery in DuBois. Started in 2010, The Rumbarger Cemetery Initiative provides for the long-term preservation and maintenance of the City's historic burial grounds. Along with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, the initiative honors the men and women of our Armed Forces, protects the cemetery's heritage, and conducts research into local history via the study of gravestones and genealogy. As a precious cultural resource and historical asset, the historic Rumbarger Cemetery serves as a focal point of the cultural legacy of the City of DuBois. To provide for the long-term maintenance and preservation of the cemetery, the initiative encourages community stewardship of the City's oldest cemetery and a spirit of volunteerism to preserve and promote the history of DuBois through the cemetery's legacy. Our group is composed of all volunteers.

No, sorry but we can't sell lots. We are a Preservation Society. Our motto is "Moving forward while honoring the past". Thank you for your interest!

Our new bushes are blooming!

The old gate door on the left picture couldn't be saved. We had a new gate door made and it turned out great! The black piping around the mausoleum had been stolen years ago, we replaced it with new piping as a part of the restoration.

Before & After

AFTER YEARS OF NEGLECT, THE RUMBARGER CEMETERY PRESERVATION SOCIETY SUPPORTED BY LOCAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND VOLUNTEERS, SUCCEEDED IN RESTORING AND NOW MAINTAINING THE BEAUTY AND SERENITY OF THE ENTIRE HISTORIC CEMETERY

The City of DuBois is very good to us. Every summer they give us summer kids that mow and weed eat 5 days a week, eight hours a day and we still can't keep up. Without the City of DuBois's help, we would be lost and Rumbarger wouldn't be looking as good as it is. The summer kids free up the board members to do other projects. It's 8 acres big and there is so much to do there, we are never caught up. Every year we fill 3 flower beds with flowers, we fill 11 urns with flowers, we maintain the mausoleum and the landscaping around it and the Soldiers Circle. We re-cement knocked over graves, trim bushes, pick up trash, rake leaves and paint where needed. We are very grateful to the help the City gives us. Plus several of the City's employees have come up after work and helped us out on their own time. We are 8 volunteers and most of us work full time. The work we do at Rumbarger is mostly done after work and on weekends. The City of DuBois has been wonderful and we really appreciate all they do for us. City of DuBois employees Herm Suplizio, Steve Swope and Scott Farrell have been very instrumental in helping us get to the point we are today.

What could you possibly do with a 145 year-old cemetery that had been left go for years, neglected and overgrown ? If you're the Rumbarger Cemetery Preservation Society THIS is what you do AFTER YEARS OF NEGLECT, THE RUMBARGER CEMETERY PRESERVATION SOCIETY SUPPORTED BY LOCAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND VOLUNTEERS, SUCCEEDED IN RESTORING AND NOW MAINTAINING THE BEAUTY AND SERENITY OF THE ENTIRE HISTORIC CEMETERY

Autumn 2014