BENTON, IL – (William McPherson, Benton Gazette. Please click on the link for the full story. Here is an excerpt below.)
Pam Teague works as a genealogist at the Benton Public Library where she spends her days helping visitors from around the area reconnect to their past. For the past few weeks Pam has been researching the “Old Benton Cemetery” now known as Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery, located behind the American Legion building just behind South Main Street. She says she was particularly distressed to find it referred to as an “abandoned cemetery” in some local records she dug up.
(William McPherson – Benton Gazette Photo
Many longtime Benton residents may remember when the cemetery, founded in 1831, and which holds Franklin County military veterans dating back to the Revolutionary War to the Civil War (both union and confederate) and beyond, was open to the public. However, back in the 90s, due to excessive vandalism a fence was constructed and the property has since been closed off except for special occasions such as the upcoming Veteran’s Day ceremonies that the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars arrange.
BENTON, IL – There have been social media posts and I overheard a conversation in a local store over the weekend of not having anything to do in Southern Illinois.
