Richland man on mission to unearth mysteries surrounding abandoned Bakerstown cemetery

The tiny collection of crumbling gravestones along Route 8 in Richland aren’t visible from the busy roadway.

The abandoned cemetery in the Bakerstown neighborhood doesn’t appear on maps. And there are no signs along the narrow gravel road leading to the clearing where the smattering of weather-worn headstones marks the final resting place for some of the township’s pioneer residents, including Thomas Baker and his family, the namesake for the surrounding community.

Until this summer, the 14 grave markers that remain from the 65 people buried there in the 1800s were barely visible in the overgrown thicket. A fallen tree split one of the tombstones and knocked others off of their bases.

“I’ve lived in Richland for 40 years and always wondered about the history of that cemetery,” said Cono Passione, 67, a retired microscope salesman. “When I went up and saw the condition it was in, I decided to put some time in cleaning it up to try to bring a little dignity back to it out of respect for the people buried there.”

Passione and his brother, Jim Passione of Middlesex, spent much of the summer clearing brush, cutting tree limbs and mowing the site. Last week, they hauled out their 20th trailer load of debris. A 2018 photo on the findagrave.com website shows the state of the cemetery. It also has photos of each of the remaining grave markers.

But Passione said his interest in the cemetery goes beyond just keeping it tidy.

While research about the cemetery answered some of his questions, it also posed a mystery that has yet to unravel.

Passione learned that the one-acre plot was established by Thomas Baker in 1826 for use as a burial ground and the site of a schoolhouse and meeting place.

It was originally called the Charlestown cemetery after Baker’s son but was changed after his Charles died, according to historical records.

A flat, grassy area at the site still shows the outline of where the tiny schoolhouse once stood.

“I was able to find out that in 1935, the American Legion did a survey of the cemetery that said there were 65 people buried there,” Passione said. “But now there are only 14 gravestones. So it begs the question, where are the rest of them?”

After speaking with a number of residents whose families have lived in the community for generations, a story emerged about some of the graves being moved during the 1930s because part of the cemetery land was needed to construct Route 8.

“A lot of people I talked to mentioned that story,” he said. “But it only added to the mystery. If it was true, then where did they move those graves? I couldn’t believe they would have just bulldozed over them to build a road.”

Passione said PennDOT provided him with the 1935 road construction plans for that area as well as plans from 1959, when the road was widened and drainage was added.

“The information I got from PenDOT just didn’t match up with the stories I was hearing about the graves being moved,” he said.”So I figured they must still be there.”

A 1970 North Hills News Record article notes that Bakerstown is first mentioned in history books as the crossroads of the Packsaddle Trail, which was the most direct route from Bull Creek in the Allegheny Valley to the Beaver Valley and points in the west.

Citing historical data, reporter Jerry Vondas wrote:

“Thomas (Baker), (his wife) Patience, (son) Charles and the other Baker children are all buried in the original burying ground located north of the crossroads.

“Originally, it was surrounded by a picket fence, but generations of curious children have about eliminated all traces of the graveyard.”

Allegheny County real estate records show the property is owned by the Charlestown Church Trust, which obtained it at no cost on Nov. 21, 1826. A previous owner is not listed for the property, which shows that taxes have not been paid on the parcel since 2017.

Passione said he has been unable to locate contact information for the current owner.

“That’s just another of the mysteries that I’m trying solve,” he said.

While many of the missing gravestones may have succumbed to more than 190 years of weathering and pilfering, Passione is most interested in learning the location of the bodies still buried at the site.

To do that, he sought the help of researchers from the anthropology department at the University of Pittsburgh.

“We’ve done a partial survey at the site and a follow up to check some of the data that was collected, said Bryan Hanks, an associate professor of anthropology at Pitt. “The results were strong enough to warrant going back to do more work.”

Hanks and fellow Pitt anthropologist Marc Bermann use ground-penetrating radar and other specialized equipment to try to detect changes in the soil that might indicate where a grave is located.

Hanks said it wasn’t common to use coffins for burial at the time the bodies were buried and the concrete vaults used to encase them underground did not exist.

“Those graves are pretty old, so we’re not going to detect any bones in the ground or coffins that are still intact if they were used,” he said. “But we can look for things that show where a body was buried. What we’ve been able to determine so far is very promising. Our hope is that the work we’re doing will eventually lead others to preserve what remains at the site.”

Passione said he hasn’t decided on what course of action to take once the team from Pitt has completed its work, but his original goal remains the same.

“I believe this is a small part of our local history that might be worth preserving,” he said. “I’m not sure how to go about doing that, but it seems like something that should be pursued.”