For more than 200 years, the cemetery at Canadochly Lutheran Church has served as the final resting place for members of the church and other residents. After centuries of wear and tear, the gravestones were in need of repair, so members of the congregation began a restoration project in 2019. With the project nearly complete, they invite the public to a reconsecration ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 5. It will be held at approximately 10:45 a.m., following the 10 a.m. worship service, at the church, located at 4921 East Prospect Road, York.

"This is a way to honor our ancestors," said Eugene Smeltzer, who has joined Jim Anspach and Bruce Herbst in the restoration efforts. "It's a way to care for them and honor their memory."

Anspach, who is active in upkeep of Mount Bethel Cemetery in Columbia, recalled that a member of Canadochly Church first mentioned the idea of restoring the headstones.

"Our oldest member at the time, Lois B. Leber, asked me multiple times, 'Isn't there something we can do with the cemetery?'" he recalled. Many of the stones in the cemetery had fallen over, and many were broken. Others had shifted away from straight rows on the site.

The men spent at least one day a week working on the project, using epoxy glue to fix broken stones and pouring concrete slabs to stabilize slate markers. Funding for supplies was provided by the Canadochly Cemetery Association and Thrivent Financial, and almost all of the work was done by hand.

"There were not many stones we didn't fix," Herbst said, noting that his motivation for wanting to help with the project was simple: "You see something that's broken, you need to fix it."

A few of the stones, including a memorial to P.W. Burg, which dates to 1836, were too big to right by hand, and the trio called in help from people who could use equipment to lift the pieces. The men also credit the church groundskeeper, Bill Dehoff, and his wife, Robin, with taking care of some of the heavy lifting.

The church dates to 1733, although the first building wasn't erected on the site until 1763. Several veterans are buried in the cemetery, including some who served in the Revolutionary War. Many of the stones are written in German, and work will be done to find out more about the cemetery's residents, Anspach said.

Prior to the reconsecration ceremony, the church will host a soup sale from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4. Quarts of ham and bean soup will be available by preorder or same-day sales. The annual event highlights the history of the church, Smeltzer said, noting that "Canadochly" is thought to come from a corruption of a Native American word meaning "at the place of the boiling kettle."

On the date of the reconsecration, the Rev. Richard Jorgensen from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will deliver the sermon and oversee the ceremony. Parishioners will walk from the sanctuary out into the cemetery, with processional music supplied by a bagpiper.

"This is happening on All Saints' Sunday, so we think that's especially fitting," Herbst noted.

For more information on the soup sale or the ceremony, visit the church's Facebook page.