January 4, 1923 The Chapel at Lake View Cemetery

On January 4, 1923, a special meeting of the Lake View Cemetery Association was held in the Firemen’s Room. George H. Mundy was presiding with the object of the meeting to consider building a chapel for Cemetery use.

Madison Covert died on June 20, 1920, leaving funds in his will for the construction of a chapel at the cemetery. The cemetery trustees were following through on his bequest. A committee was named and directed to work with an architect to develop plans for the new building. The committee was J.S. Thompson and William D. Wheeler.

Cemetery Entrance before the Chapel was built.
Note the gate on the right for those walking into the cemetery.
Interlaken Historical Society photo #11.

On March 13, 1923, at the regular Cemetery Association and trustees meeting, the motion was made and carried that the plans prepared by Architects Kennedy and Briggs be accepted, and the committee directed to oversee the building of the chapel, (Page 136).

November 26, 1923, a special meeting of the trustees of Lake View Cemetery was held in the new Chapel. “On motion and duly supported and carried that the Building Committee be relieved and the new Chapel be accepted by the Trustees of the Association.” A second motion provided funds to purchase chairs, rug and necessary supplies as needed.

Since it was put into use, the Chapel has served many times as the gathering place for families attending services; even in recent years the chapel has been used rather than the planned graveside services.

Current Cemetery Entrance with brick pillars,
Photo courtesy of Lake View Cemetery website.

For a number of years the chapel was used for winter storage of caskets rather than the vault. The Town of Covert has assisted with plowing needs in the winter and the cemetery has been able to use the vault.

Trying to keep equipment out of the chapel, an addition was built in the 1990s as a storage facility. Through the efforts of a number of people, the chapel windows and other wooden trim have been scraped and painted over the years. Most recently this task was undertaken by Doug Barkee.

Guided tours of the cemetery have been held for school groups, and recently, for public groups in 2013 and 2015. The school groups would gather at the chapel, where they were given the name of a person from the community. After learning about these people and the events from the community, they toured the cemetery, locating where their person was buried.

The 2013 tours were also walking tours of much of the cemetery, with 20 locations presented. The tours began at the chapel, and visitors learned about the growth of the cemetery, as well as local events and the people who participated in them.

October 2015 Waiting for the first Voices from the Past Tour
Photo courtesy of Karen Nelson

October 2015 saw the cemetery as the focus of a “Voices from the Past” tour. Starting at the chapel, these groups heard from eight people who had participated in the community and were buried at the cemetery. The 2016 tour had to be postponed and will be held on May 20, 2017, if all plans hold in place.

In addition to leaving funds for the chapel, Madison Covert, a veteran of the Civil War, Company C, 126^th New York Volunteers, also provided funds for the Civil War monument, but that is another snippet.

Sources: Extracts from the Meeting Minutes, Lake View Cemetery Association, 1889—1949.

Dewitt’s Diary: Thursday January 4, 1923 Cold north west wind and snow flurries this morning. Ray M and I went rabbit hunting this morning. We only got one rabbit. Earl [Wilson] and I went down in their big woods after dinner and we got 7 rabbits. It snowed a little in the night and all tracks are fresh today. We saw plenty of pheasants and thousands of pheasant tracks. We went to bed early tonight. I was tired after hunting and Edna has been washing and ironing Leland's clothes. Mild and cloudy tonight.