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Save the Graves details cemetery restorations, flags county maintenance gaps and upcoming event
Summary
Save the Graves president Mike Roberts updated the Placerville City Council on restoration work at Upper Town, Old City and Union cemeteries, described partnerships with volunteers and fraternal organizations, noted encampment and maintenance problems in Union Cemetery, and promoted the group’s fundraising theatrical event on Oct. 18.
Save the Graves, the volunteer group that restores historic cemeteries in El Dorado County, briefed the Placerville City Council on Sept. 9 about ongoing work at Upper Town, Placerville Old City Cemetery and Placerville Union Cemetery and asked for continued local support.
Mike Roberts, president of Save the Graves, said the organization “formed in 2019 with a mission to restore, preserve, and celebrate El Dorado County's rich legacy of pioneer cemeteries.” Roberts reviewed efforts at three sites: Uppertown, Old City and Union, describing interpretive signage grants, headstone repairs, fencing and veteran memorial work.
Roberts said volunteers and partner groups completed a large share of needed work at Old City Cemetery: “We've repaired about 80% of the headstones,” he said, and described the technical difficulty of lifting heavier carved markers made of Indian Diggins marble and the need to borrow heavy-lifting equipment for a few large pieces.
Roberts credited the Emblem Club with adopting and maintaining Old City Cemetery and described collaborations with the Oddfellows, Boy Scouts, National Charity League and other local volunteer groups. Using a veteran-focused transient occupancy tax (TOT) grant in a previous year, Save the Graves created a veterans memorial area in Union Cemetery with a carved rock from Raffeto Ranch, interpretive signage and benches, Roberts said.
Roberts also described obstacles: Placerville Union Cemetery had been overgrown and had an encampment; volunteers reported a storage locker and personal possessions placed in the main mausoleum area. Roberts said he called Placerville Police Department and that officers responded to patrol the site; he said county facilities staffing cuts had reduced routine cemetery maintenance and asked for attention from elected officials.
Roberts described the group’s central fundraiser — an annual theatrical event staged in the cemetery — and invited the council to the Oct. 18 performance, this year themed “Women of Character.” He said the event provides most of the group’s operating funds and supports headstone conservation and interpretive-sign projects.
During ceremonial comment, Jacob Rigoli, who identified himself as a Save the Graves board member and historical society board member, encouraged residents to visit the California Museum in Sacramento to see founding documents and related displays. A resident speaker later urged the council to supply water to cemetery sites to improve maintenance and visitation.
No council action was taken on the presentation; the item was a briefing and request for continued partnership and attention to county-maintained sites.
Why it matters: Save the Graves’ volunteer projects preserve local history, maintain veterans’ graves, and support small-scale tourism and community engagement; the group’s requests highlight limits in county maintenance capacity and public-safety concerns at some cemetery sites.
