By Theresa Knapp

For hundreds of years, families tending gravesites in the South Hopedale Cemetery had to bring their own water. That may soon change. 

“The long and short of it is I never realized that there was no water service at that cemetery so anybody going down there, if they were going to water flowers or anything that they’d put in there, that they would have to bring their own water,” said Select Board member Bernie Stock. “It kind of caught me by surprise because that cemetery was something that I took care of some 40 years ago when I was here, and it never occurred to me there was no water source down there.” 

Stock said the issue came to his attention when he was approached by someone whose father is buried in the small historic (est. 1700s) cemetery on Plain Street. Around Memorial Day, that person offered to do some equipment work on the site but town officials declined the offer for various reasons. 

Stock said the cost to put in the water service would be approximately $5,000. Town Administrator Mitch Ruscitti has identified “some old unexpended funds for cemetery use from years ago where the money is still in the account.” 

Stock said, “I think it’s short money, and I think it’s an obligation that we should have assumed a long, long time ago.”