Along with being a place to honor and remember loved ones, cemeteries can be a place to study the past and learn about the history of local communities.

 

Right outside of Clear Lake just off Hwy 10, the nondenominational Clear Lake Community Cemetery is one such place. It’s a beautiful, peaceful spot.

 

Although people had been buried in the area before, in 1881 a group of citizens got together, purchased five acres and had it surveyed and platted, and formed the Clear Lake Cemetery Association. The first burial in the new cemetery was Civil War veteran Henry Jones,  October 30, 1881.

 

Numerous Clear Lake founding families are buried at the Clear Lake Cemetery today, including the first white settler in Clear Lake, John Stevenson, and his family.

 

Alanson Potter and F.E. Baldwin, who both helped lay out the City of Clear Lake, are interred there, along with Charles Schwab, who started the first bank in town.

 

Many of the original Haven Township settlers were also laid to rest in the Clear Lake Community Cemetery, including the Cater and Scherfenberg families. They, along with the Stickneys from Clear Lake, were part of early cemetery board of directors. 

 

There are many veterans buried at the cemetery from the Civil War on, and each Memorial Day the Clear Lake and Clearwater Legions hold services there to read off their names and honor them with a 21-gun salute. 

 

In 1973 Charles M. Cater and Ben and Vera Scherfenberg inventoried the entire cemetery, creating a permanent record of each lot.

 

People donate money for specific projects on occasion, with a recent anonymous donation purchasing a flag, flagpole, and light. A weatherproof metal box was constructed that will be placed near the flag in time for Memorial Day, which will hold a map and directory of the cemetery in the near future.

 

Although it’s still used today, interest in the Clear Lake Community Cemetery has waned over the years. Currently there are only five people who reside on the cemetery association, and more help is needed. 

 

“We’re not looking for people to perform physical labor,” said Linda Kozak, who has been a part of the Clear Lake Cemetery Association for over 20 years. “We’re looking for input and ideas about where we’re going to go with the cemetery from here. We need to get people involved to help make decisions.”

 

 “It’s got a lot of history, and we have to preserve it,” said Judy Warren, a newer association member.

 

Anyone interested in becoming involved with the Clear Lake Community Cemetery is invited to attend the next association board meeting at 6:30 p.m. on June 7 in the lower level of the Clear Lake Township Hall.