On Tuesday, November 1, members of the Newcastle City Council and the Newcastle Historical Society met to share their appreciation for our 41st legislative delegation and their work to secure funding last session to support the restoration of and improvements to the Newcastle Historic Cemetery. Thank you so much to Sen. Lisa Wellman, Rep. Tana Senn, and Rep. My-Linh Thai for joining us, and thank you to Mike Intlekofer of the Newcastle Historical Society for leading the cemetery tour!
 

Right before the start of the 2022 session, the City of Newcastle applied for funding to the state’s historic cemetery grant, and we received notice during the session that we would be receiving $14,000 to make improvements to the cemetery. Although this was a significant accomplishment, we needed an additional $75,000 to construct pedestrian access and paths to and through the cemetery, and to replace the fencing. We reached out to our state legislators amid the busy session to notify them about this funding shortage, and without hesitation they worked to submit a budget request for the remaining funds.
 

Fast forward to today, we now have the funding to complete the entirety of the project. We are so excited to get started on these improvement efforts, which are set to start in 2024. Thanks to our legislators’ efforts, we can continue to preserve the historical integrity of the cemetery. These types of projects require strong partnerships to achieve, and we’re grateful for the collaborative relationships we have with our state legislators.
 

In addition to this project, the City also received funding to support the reconstruction of the fishing and viewing dock at Lake Boren Park, and that work begins in 2023. We can’t wait!