Wiltbank family cemetery to be restored
A small but historically significant Lewes cemetery is in for a big restoration.
The John Wiltbank family cemetery, located on New Road just outside city limits, has been neglected for decades. It is overgrown with brush and trees. Some of the headstones are crumbling.
Mike Rawl, Greater Lewes Foundation executive director, announced the restoration project at a gathering of Wiltbank ancestors March 21.
“We’ll clear out the brush, restore the headstones, put a fence around it and put up a historical marker. We’ll make it a fitting tribute to a man who was very, very prominent during the Revolutionary War period,” Rawl said.
The cemetery is located at the end of a long driveway on 23.5 acres owned by Karen Truitt.
Truitt said she has been in contact with Historic Lewes, formerly the Lewes Historical Society, and the Sussex County Land Trust about plans for the restoration.
“It’s historical and I’m excited that it will preserved for the public to see,” Truitt said.
Truitt said there are 14 graves on the site, with 12 belonging to Wiltbank family descendants. She said there is an unrelated woman and her baby buried together, as well as an unrelated man.
She said the house on the property, where she and her late husband Eddie Truitt once lived, will be demolished. She said a three-car, Amish garage will remain.
The cleanup will cost an estimated $10,000, according to Rawl. He said he would like to raise an additional $10,000 to $15,000 for a maintenance endowment.
The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services’ Division of Public Health has officially recognized the Wiltbank family cemetery. Rawl received the certificate March 20.
Rawl said that recognition will allow GLF to receive $5,000 from the state’s Distressed Cemetery Fund. He said the rest could come from Wiltbank family donations.
Truitt said she is also willing to contribute money to get the project started.
Terri Wiltbank Bostic, one of the descendants at the March 21 gathering, said she is delighted the cemetery will be preserved.
“I saw it when it was pristine. I have pictures of my father walking around there. About 10 or 15 years ago, we went out to find another cousin and it not only had brush, it also had siding trash and we were very sad about it,” she said.
The cemetery is mentioned in Rawl’s book, “The First Settler of Lewes: A History of the Fourth Street Preserve.”
The proceeds of the book are going to the GLF’s campaign to raise $8 million to buy and protect the 30-acre preserve as open space. It is the last forest in Lewes and was the first deeded land in Delaware in 1670.
The Wiltbank family was the longest-tenured owners of the preserve, more than 140 years.
The campaign has raised $6.4 million ahead of its September deadline.
The March 21 gathering was an opportunity for Wiltbank family descendants to talk with Ed Otter, a local historical archeologist. Otter has researched many Delaware cemeteries.
Otter said Helmanias Wiltbank, the patriarch and Lewes’ first settler, is not buried in the family cemetery. He said he is buried in an ancient burial ground, the location of which is unknown.
Former Lewes Mayor Jim Ford and his wife Teresa, who is a Wiltbank ancestor, also attended the gathering. Jim is the chair of the GLF’s Fourth Street Preserve campaign.
Rawl said the next step in the restoration will be to have Otter do a survey to mark the cemetery boundaries. He said he is hoping the cleanup could begin as early as the fall.
More information can be found at greaterlewesfoundation.org.
