Jim Dreisbach, representing the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society presented a program on the history and current status of the Oak Mound Cemetery in Healdsburg.
 
Jim Dreisbach, representing the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society presented a program on the history and current status of the Oak Mound Cemetery in Healdsburg.
 
The cemetery was established in 1859 and has always been a family-owned business. This ownership has changed several times over the ensuing 157 years. Some of the earliest headstones are those of George and Harmon Heald.
 
In its early days, maintenance of each gravesite was a responsibility of the family whose members were laid to rest there. As time passed, several gravesites fell into disrepair from lack of maintenance. An endowed portion of the cemetery was established early in the 20th century. Funds from the endowment allow for the maintenance of that portion of the cemetery. The un-endowed portion has fallen into a significant state of neglect for lack of interest or means on the part of the families involved.
 
Over the decades, many community efforts have been mounted to maintain and restore the old cemetery with the first documented community effort being in 1912. In 1955,  members of the DeMolay Club were involved with the cleanup. Not much has happened since that time until recently when the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society got involved. Since their involvement, over 1200 hrs. of donated labor have helped to clean up the site, ridding it of berry bushes, Scotch broom, poison oak and fallen trees. All of this work has been voluntary by community members.
 
Today, the cemetery is very presentable and much of the fallen headstones have at least been put back in position but need further straightening and maintenance.
 
When the cemetery was originally established, a large fountain was central to the burial sites, having been placed there in 1876. The fountain is still present and was topped with a statue of Leda and the Swan, cast in bronze. The original statue has been lost, but through the work of the Historical Society the company in Georgia that produced the statue has been found and a recasting is in the works.
 
Members of the museum and historical societies are setting up a burial records database to include information on the families, dates of birth and death, and other significant details about the people who have been buried there in the past. This will also include a detailed description and location of the gravesite on a new map that is being generated of the site. Historical Society is also providing tours of the site.
 
Students from Sonoma State University have taken on mapping of the cemetery as a project for their classes. This will result in a much more accurate depiction of gravesites and help with future efforts at restoration of the cemetery to a more original state.
 
All of the work on the cemetery restoration project is dependent upon donated funds. The Kiwanis Club, Masons, Rotary Club of Healdsburg, both Noon and Sunrise as well as the Healdsburg Garden Club are actively involved with helping on the project. Members of the Club, or any of their friends who are interested in helping, may contact Holly Hood, Dir. of the Healdsburg Museum, as to time and place for any group volunteer efforts.