Ghippiannock needs community's help

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By Alma Gaul | Friday, August 01, 2008 |

The first thing Greg Vogele saw when he got to work at Rock Island’s Chippiannock Cemetery the morning of the July 21 windstorm was that the grand magnolia trees at the entrance had been ripped out of the ground.

Then he saw a persimmon tree — one of the largest in the Quad-Cities — torn apart near the grave of Ben Harper, a Rock Island mayor in the 1800s.

As the day wore on, the cemetery superintendent began to realize just how much damage the storm’s 90-mph winds had inflicted on the 85-acre burial ground that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as a kind of informal arboretum.

As with many homes and businesses affected by the storm’s fierce winds, cleanup will take a long time, but the cemetery’s board of trustees and heritage foundation are issuing a special plea to the community for help.

A work day is scheduled Saturday, Aug. 9, to help drag branches and debris to the roadsides of the cemetery so Chippiannock’s grounds crew can continue with mowing, burials and the reinstatement of toppled grave markers while waiting for professional help to deal with the major tree damage.

In that regard, Vogele has received a bid of $120,000 to clear and remove the big trees that have been uprooted or snapped off, or to deal with those that have huge broken limbs still hung up in the canopies.

That will require “a bigger check than we can write,” he said. Vogele is hoping local companies might be able to volunteer some help in the future. In addition, the cemetery’s nonprofit board and heritage foundation are accepting donations to help pay for tree removal, monument repair and reforestation.

Chippiannock’s insurance will cover damage to the cemetery fence, but not the trees, he added.

Daryl Empen, a past chairman of the Rock Island Historic Preservation Commission, said he hopes for a good turnout Aug. 9 because the cemetery “is such an integral part of the history of Rock Island.”

Although the ancient trees cannot be replaced, the cemetery deserves to be restored the best it can, he said, adding, “The people who are buried in Chippiannock are the people who are responsible for Rock Island. It is a treasure.”

Chippiannock is regarded as an informal arboretum because it contains more than 100 different varieties of trees, Vogele said.

Many are towering natives — oaks, maples and hackberries — that were growing there before the cemetery was established in 1855. In addition, there are many unusual specimen trees that were planted as memorials by the families of people buried there.

Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com.

Black Hawk also cleaning up

Another Rock Island treasure — Black Hawk State Historic Site — also sustained massive damage in the July 21 windstorm, but, unlike Chippiannock Cemetery, not all of its fallen trees need to be picked up.

Because Black Hawk is largely woods and a nature preserve, trees generally are left where they fall because that is nature’s way. Insects and other creatures make their homes in the fallen timber and, as the trees decompose, they replenish the soil from which they came, explained Bob Motz, a member of the Citizens to Preserve Black Hawk Park Foundation.

Even so, site manager Scott Roman and five other employees have been busy nonstop since the storm, helping to clear Blackhawk Road; 15th Street, which leads off Blackhawk to Singing Bird Lodge, and the site’s parking lots, all of which had trees on them, said Nancy Parkhurst,

the site’s interpretative coordinator.

Roman expects to begin tackling the trails next week, removing fallen trees that are making them inaccessible.

He expects cleanup work will take another three to four weeks.

Black Hawk is a 208-acre park of steeply rolling woodlands off Blackhawk Road, roughly between 14th and 24th streets. It is important to the Quad-City area’s heritage because it is a largely intact, temperate deciduous forest in the middle of the city.

The park is named for the American Indian warrior Black Hawk, who lived in the area and led a small band of followers during the 1832 Black Hawk War in an attempt to reclaim land lost through questionable treaties.

The site was named one of the “seven wonders of Illinois” in online voting last year.

Chippiannock history

“Chippiannock” means “village of the dead” in the Sac and Fox dialect. It was opened in August 1855 by a group of citizens who saw the need for a cemetery.

Almerin Hotchkiss, the designer of Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, was hired as the landscape architect. His design called for a system of drives that curved around the burial sections.

Chippiannock is the first cemetery in Illinois to have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, admitted on the basis of its landscape architecture and art.

It is operated by a nonprofit association. The cemetery raises money for preservation and other activities beyond its function as an active cemetery through the Chippiannock Cemetery Heritage Foundation.

Among the people buried there are Col. George Davenport, for whom the city of Davenport is named, and Frederick Weyerhaeuser, a founder of a lumber company that continues to this day.

Perhaps the most poignant marker, though, is the statue of a dog at the grave of Eddie and Josie Dimick, a brother and sister who died of diphtheria the same day in 1878. As the story goes, their devoted dog, a Newfoundland, sat at the graves from morning to night until his own death. In honor of the dog’s allegiance, the family erected a statue of him.

IF YOU CAN HELP

What: Community cleanup of storm debris at Rock Island’s historic Chippiannock Cemetery

When: 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 9

Where: Sign up at the cemetery office, 2901 12th St. To get there, take 11th Street to 29th Avenue and turn toward the cemetery, which is marked with a brown-and-white sign.

Please note: Volunteers must be at least 12 years old and will be asked to sign a liability waiver. Do not bring chain saws.

Extra help: Financial donations are being accepted at the Chippiannock Cemetery Heritage Foundation, 2901 12th St., Rock Island, IL 61201

More information: Call the cemetery office at (309) 788-6622.

To view the damage: Photos are on the city’s Web site at rigov.org/stormimages/chippiannock/index.htm.