Repairs to the stone wall at Bennington’s Evergreen Cemetery have been completed, thanks to volunteer labor by mason Zeth Kenney of Graceline Stone Works in Hillsborough.

“I reached out for bids for the work, but Zeth was the only one who got back to me,” said Melissa Clark of the Bennington Cemetery Commission. “I couldn’t find anyone else who would come and give me a quote. It is hard to find people to do this type of work.”

Evergreen Cemetery on Old Stagecoach Road is one of Bennington’s three cemeteries, along with Sunnyvale Cemetery in the center of town and Calvary Cemetery, the Catholic cemetery also located on Old Stagecoach Road.

Clark said she often walks by the cemetery and had long noticed that loose stones were starting to fall out of the wall facing Old Stagecoach Road.

“We had a bunch of stones that had fallen out and needed to be replaced and smoothed out,” Clark said. “Several years ago, a large stone had fallen out and my son and I actually put it back in.”

Clark said when she explained the project to Kenney, he volunteered to do the work for free.

“It was whole day’s work, and he donated it all,” Clark said. 

Clark noted that Kenney did the work on Veterans Day to honor fallen veterans. 

“Zeth has done a lot for the community. In 2023, he made a bench on honor of a Hillsborough police officer, Rory Bonahan,  who had died,” Clark said.

Clark said Kenney’s donation of labor will benefit the Cemetery Commission. 

“We have a lot of tree work we need to do, and now we can focus on that and put funds toward that,” Clark said. “This saved us a lot of money, and we are so grateful for Zeth’s help.”