Palmer Cemetery (1410 E. Palmer St.) is riddled with headstones, flowers left by loving family members and history.

The cemetery was trusted to the community of Kensington in 1765 by Anthony Palmer, the founder of Kensington who served the public for 40 years as a judge, commissioner and governor of Pennsylvania. Due to these efforts, a Pennsylvania Historical Marker honoring Anthony Palmer was installed at the cemetery in October 2015.

Palmer Cemetery is a reflection of the history in Fishtown and is maintained by trustees Jim Kingsmill, Nancy Bartelle and John Lonergan — three individuals who give back to the neighborhood’s past, present and future.

“It’s like managing a museum,” Kingsmill said. “Some of the people buried here go back as far as the 1730s… There are Revolutionary War soldiers, a lot of Civil War soldiers, World War I, World War II… We’re basically managing and maintaining what is the history of the neighborhood.”

Despite being a landmark of the Riverwards in 1730, Palmer Cemetery still engages with the community today through projects like the installation of iron fences and cleaning aging headstones. Kingsmill said the Christmas tree lighting ceremony that started five years ago is one of his favorite moments so far in being a trustee.

“We do it the first Saturday in December and that’s really brought a lot of people from the community out… for a lack of a better phrase, it brought the place to life,” Kingsmill said.  “[The cemetery] really wasn’t taken care of the way it should’ve been… So the first year we got in here I said ‘We are going to do a Christmas tree lighting.’”

Nancy Bartelle, Palmer trustee and owner of BeDazzled Hair Salon (1365 E. Montgomery Ave.), also enjoys watching the community come together as a result of the cemetery.

“[My favorite part is] when I walk in and my beef and beers are there and I see the people that are there and what they give me [like] the baskets, the money and the donations,” Bartelle said.

Community involvement is an integral part of the beginnings of the cemetery.

“In 1765, [Kensington] had to file [their] legal documents in Philadelphia… The trust itself, required that people from the community took care of the cemetery,” Kingsmill said.

However, the cemetery was not always well-kept, which prompted Nancy Bartelle to get involved.

“15 years ago, it was a mess… I started a cleanup group and that is exactly how it started… I had fundraisers, starting out with casino bus trips. With the money from that I bought the tools. Then it got bigger and then it got bigger and then it got bigger,” Bartelle said.

Palmer Cemetery is unique because community members can be involved in life and death. Due to its 300-year-long record of burials, space is not an ample resource, meaning caskets can no longer be buried.

“The old-timers that are still here want to be buried here and we have to turn a lot of people away… That’s a significant thing that I have to tell a lot of people,” Kingsmill said.

The insistence of citizens to be buried at Palmer Cemetery is exemplary of the fixture it has become since it has personal value for many Fishtown citizens. Jim Kingsmill’s grandparents and great-grandparents, for example, are buried at Palmer Cemetery. Nancy Bartelle said her mother and sister are resting there as well.

“I grew up here. That’s the connection. The reward comes from just being able to take care of something I’ve known about my whole life,” he said.

Bartelle expressed her passionate feelings about Palmer Cemetery as a landmark of Fishtown.

“It’s a Fishtown thing. It’s always been. I just want to keep doing what we’re doing. That’s it,” she said. “It’s the only thing truly left that’s [just] Fishtown… Everything around here is new. This is the oldest cemetery on the East Coast and nobody owns it but us… I’ll probably work on it until I’m half dead.”

Palmer Cemetery will  be hosting its Annual Christmas Tree Lighting on December 5th, 2015 at 6PM. Want to help support Palmer Cemetery in its efforts to restore and maintain this historic part of Fishtown? They will be selling Christmas Wreaths at the cemetery starting 12/5 for $10. They are asking that as you purchase a wreath, to please consider placing it on the grave of a veteran buried at Palmer to support the idea that ALL Veteran’s Graves should be decorated during the holiday season. Still want to take one home? Buy two!