Independence Township Cemeteries

Visiting Ottawa Park Cemetery on Dixie Highway on Mother's Day was a bit shocking. The City of Pontiac owns Ottawa Park Cemetery and many family members and former residents of Clarkston are buried there. While talking with people who were putting plants and flowers on their loved ones gravesites, the discussion was the upkeep and how the cemetery grounds have gone downhill in the last few years. When trucks and backhoes are driven across the grassy areas, ruts are still visible in the ground from a year ago. People said this wasn't the way it was a couple of years ago. While standing and talking with a long time resident, he pointed out how grave stones were damaged by the equipment and never repaired. While residents say they have called and talked to Pontiac city officials, nothing seems to change.

Cemeteries are expensive for governmental units to maintain. Independence Township owns three cemeteries, Lakeview on White Lake Road, Sashabaw Plains on Maybee Road, and Case Cemetery on Dartmouth Road in the northeast section of the township. Sashabaw Plains and Case cemeteries were taken over because the people who were in charge grew older and were unable to maintain the cemetery. Sometimes younger volunteers are hard to come by.

Our neighboring township Orion has no cemeteries. Interesting how cemetery ownship happens. Sometimes you will find small cemeteries next to older churches in the area. While the congregation may want to move to a larger space, they have made a promise to maintain the gravesites.

Independence Township under the DPW Directdor Linda Richardson seems to be doing an excellent job in maintaining Lakeview Cemetery where I stopped to make another visit to relatives' gravesites on Sunday. The cemetery sign said it was created in 1850. Knowing that community of Clarkston began in 1832, you wonder where people were buried prior to 1850.