Massive landslide topples tombstones in Wheeling cemetery
WHEELING, W.Va. – A massive landslide early Wednesday toppled nearly 200 tombstones at the Mount Zion Cemetery on Frazier Run Road.
The landslide began above the hillside cemetery, a result of days of rain and overly soggy conditions. It did not unearth any caskets, as the mud, following its initial release, stayed at the surface level.
But the damage at Mount Zion, which is just below Mozart off 29th Street, is extensive.
“I got a call about 7:30 (Wednesday) morning that something had happened. I never would have imagined it to be this bad,” said Charles Yocke, president of the Mount Zion Cemetery Association, a volunteer organization that maintains the cemetery. “There’s so much work to be done to get this back in shape – it’s going to take years and more money than we have, for certain.”
The landslide originated about halfway up the hill between the cemetery and the back-end of Indian Point Estates in Mozart. It did not impact homes there.
Yocke said when he arrived, he contacted the city of Wheeling and the Ohio County Commission to see if any water lines or other utilities were near the slide’s origin point. After learning of no issues outside of the weather, he began the process of figuring out the next steps.
“We don’t know what’s happening at this point and time. We will let you know as we find out more. Please be patient. We are all devastated,” said Paula Stein, secretary of the Mount Zion Cemetery Association.
Family members with loved ones buried at Mount Zion started gathering at the site around noon. However, additional landslides – much smaller than the initial slide – prompted the association to lock the gates and ask folks to stay off the property until the ground had a chance to dry.
Most of those who gathered spoke of where their loved ones were located, and shared memories of visiting Mount Zion to plant flowers and visit.
“My great-grandmother and her family are either in the slip at the top just below the tree line or it may have missed them by a few feet. I won’t know until it is open again,” Karen Himrod said.
For Yocke, the real work will be coming in the days and months ahead. First, funding needs to be secured to help clear the slide in a delicate manner so as not to do more damage to tombstones already toppled. Then a surveyor will need to be hired to help return the tombstones to their proper site. That’s going to be a major undertaking, he said.
“We’re going to have to carefully sort through all that mud, shore up the hillside and then get the headstones back where they belong,” Yocke said. “That’s going to be a couple-year process, at least. And that doesn’t even factor in where we get the funding to make this happen.”