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Monongahela Cemetery to host community veggie garden

2 min read
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MONONGAHELA – Efforts are underway to breathe new life into a historic cemetery in the Mon Valley.

The Monongahela Cemetery board approved the creation of a community vegetable garden on a plot of land set away from the tombstones.

“They thought it would not be disrespectful,” said Mark Affinito, the cemetery’s superintendent.

The garden is being spearheaded by local resident Michelle Parnell, who recommended it during a recent meeting with two members of Monongahela Council as they looked for creative ideas to improve the community.

“The cemetery actually contacted me,” Parnell said Monday. “They were really interested in it.”

The 160-acre Monongahela Cemetery established itself as a much-respected, beautiful burial grounds that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery, which has been described as a “wooded oasis,” earned the distinction because of its landscape, which was designed in 1863 by John Chislett, the first trained architect to settle in Pittsburgh, according to the cemetery’s 2001 application seeking a listing on the register.

The new garden will be situated in an area called “the park,” Affinito said.

It’s a secluded area where visitors once held picnics beside the superintendent’s house, which likely had a garden before it was demolished, he said.

Parnell said she envisions the planting of a row of fruit trees there. She also said two local master gardeners expressed interest in working with the cemetery on the project.

“I’ve been getting a lot of good responses from the community,” she said.

Gardeners who take part in the project will likely pay a $20 plot fee per growing season, she said.

The cemetery committed to using its employees and equipment to turn the soil before planting.

For additional information about the garden, email Parnell at moncitygarden@gmail.com

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