American Legion re-dedicates bell at Maple Grove Church
PHOTOS PROVIDED Members of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons of the American Legion from the same Post re-dedicated a bell at the New Maple Grove Church and Cemetery in Leidy Township. The bell, originally set in place in the 1970s, was removed and discovered near Philadelphia. With community support and key involvement of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons, the bell was recently re-dedicated in the cemetery along Kettle Creek in Leidy Township.
PHOTOS PROVIDED Members of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons of the American Legion from the same Post re-dedicated a bell at the New Maple Grove Church and Cemetery in Leidy Township. The bell, originally set in place in the 1970s, was removed and discovered near Philadelphia. With community support and key involvement of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons, the bell was recently re-dedicated in the cemetery along Kettle Creek in Leidy Township.
PHOTOS PROVIDED Members of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons of the American Legion from the same Post re-dedicated a bell at the New Maple Grove Church and Cemetery in Leidy Township. The bell, originally set in place in the 1970s, was removed and discovered near Philadelphia. With community support and key involvement of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons, the bell was recently re-dedicated in the cemetery along Kettle Creek in Leidy Township.
PHOTOS PROVIDED Members of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons of the American Legion from the same Post re-dedicated a bell at the New Maple Grove Church and Cemetery in Leidy Township. The bell, originally set in place in the 1970s, was removed and discovered near Philadelphia. With community support and key involvement of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons, the bell was recently re-dedicated in the cemetery along Kettle Creek in Leidy Township.
PHOTOS PROVIDED Members of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons of the American Legion from the same Post re-dedicated a bell at the New Maple Grove Church and Cemetery in Leidy Township. The bell, originally set in place in the 1970s, was removed and discovered near Philadelphia. With community support and key involvement of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons, the bell was recently re-dedicated in the cemetery along Kettle Creek in Leidy Township.
PHOTOS PROVIDED Members of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons of the American Legion from the same Post re-dedicated a bell at the New Maple Grove Church and Cemetery in Leidy Township. The bell, originally set in place in the 1970s, was removed and discovered near Philadelphia. With community support and key involvement of the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons, the bell was recently re-dedicated in the cemetery along Kettle Creek in Leidy Township.
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KETTLE CREEK -- The setting of the New Maple Grove Church and Cemetery surely rivals the best of any locations for a final resting spot.
The flowing of Kettle Creek can be heard in the picturesque location on a mountainside that, to get there, has you crossing the Leidy Bridge over Kettle Creek and head up Spicewood Road into the forest.
It should come as no surprise that those parishioners and family members and friends of loved ones take pride in the remote location.
Still, one thing that had become increasingly missed in recent years was the bell that once sat in the cemetery, which ceremoniously rang out during burials.
Willy and Nancy Dingman had salvaged the bell from a church that removed it, in memory of Nancy’s parents, Howard and Georgianna Summerson. The bell was originally set in place at the time of Howard Summerson’s passing in the early 1970s.
With the passing of time, the bell was removed and its whereabouts eventually became unknown.
Last year at a Schoonover family reunion -- a family synonymous with the area and the New Maple Grove Church and Cemetery -- talk began on trying to not only find the bell but to get it back to its location along Kettle Creek.
Ken Schoonover, who recently moved back to the area and into a house that looks down along the Kettle Creek Valley where he grew up, credits his cousin Rocket Schoonover and his daughters with tracking the bell down, after it had made its way to the Philadelphia area.
Even though it was found, the bell’s return to Leidy Township was just beginning.
Although finding it was a major win, not only did it need to be repaired and painted, but there was no longer a place to mount it in the cemetery.
Members of the church began accepting private donations and jump-started the efforts, but Schoonover said it was the American Legion Post 442 and the Sons of the American Legion from the same post that really made putting the bell back a reality.
"I happened to be in the Legion one night talking about it. Some of the members of the Sons of The American Legion asked me more about it and said that they could and would help," Schoonover explained. "Then Bob Probst said that the Legion Post 442 would also help. It was really those two groups that made this become something that was possible."
The movement got a great deal from Robin Busshaus, who fabricated the tower, and was soon using money from donations to buy the steel and lumber with Dalton Young and Mark Blackwell taking on the carpentry work. The newest version of the bell tower was equipped with LED lighting, making it illuminate throughout the night.
With the bell and tower set in place, the American Legion Post 442 and Sons of the American Legion were asked to mark it back into service at a re-dedication ceremony on Aug. 8.
As they arrived at the cemetery they saw that the bell had two plaques prominently displayed.
In addition to honoring the memory of Howard and Georgianna Summerson as originally intended, set alongside of that marker is an additional plate, thanking the
American Legion Post 442, Sons of the American Legion and the community for their contributions.
Schoonover said that between the love of nostalgia and the sense of community from the experience of the bell project, everyone had such a great experience, that the church already has plans to take on its next project -- once again displaying a lighted cross.
Prior generations of western Clinton County residents and visitors no doubt recall the lighted cross that sat on the cemetery grounds. Back when local car rides were commonplace, taking the well known trip "around the dam” found sighting the large lighted cross on the other side of the Kettle a highlight of the trip.
Schoonover said discussions have begun to once again light up the cross and illuminate the Leidy Township skyline.