While Brady Etter of Boy Scout Troop 22 of Irvine was looking for a project, he heard about the Patchen Hill Cemetery in Sugar Grove Township.

“For my Eagle, I was trying to find a project,” Etter said. “My grandpa said this cemetery was up here.”

The cemetery is small and not easily noticed, but is right next to Patchen Hollow Road.

“I grew up here and I never knew it was here,” Etter’s mother, Melissa said. “It needed quite a bit of work. It was in sad shape.”

Photo submitted to Times Observer With the help of his grandfather, Jef Luvison, Scout Brady Etter places new gravestones at Patchen Hill Cemetery as part of his Eagle project.

The project called for more than mowing and cutting brush.

There are some newer stones at the cemetery and the project did nothing to disturb those. But most of the graves were marked with only broken stones or pipes set deep in the ground. There was also no sign to let people know the name of the cemetery, and help point out its location to those looking for it.

That just wasn’t acceptable.

“We wanted to clean it up and put in some new headstones to honor the veterans and the people who are buried here,” Etter said.

There was nothing to indicate that any of those 12 graves were the resting places of veterans. But, there was reason to believe some could be.

One of the stones that remained in good condition marked the resting place of James Mattison, who fought with the 151st Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War.

So, Etter and his crew figured it likely that there could be other veterans buried at the cemetery.

Still, with no way to know even the basics of who is buried there, there was no way to personalize grave markers.

“We wanted to give them some proper headstones and have a proper place for family to come and visit,” Melissa said.

In August, Etter got to work. First, he had to have a plan.

He knew he would need some heavy equipment and some proper grave markers.

Roger Luvison & Son Masonry provided the first. Jef Luvison, Etter’s grandfather, brought a small excavator to the project that fit in the cemetery without tearing up the grounds, Etter said. They used the excavator to pull up the pipes and to dig holes for the placement of the new stones.

The company also provided a connection. Etter said Renier Devido Stone Company of New Castle provided the new grave markers and the larger, stone Patchen Hill Cemetery sign.

“They love helping out youth organizations and Scouts,” Melissa said.

Each of the new stones is engraved with a cross and RIP – the most appropriate message Etter and his crew could manage without any idea who was buried there.

Etter had about 10 people helping with the project over two days.

One of the biggest challenges they faced was removing large roots from the spots where they needed to place the stones, he said.

But, in all, the project went smoothly and ended up exceeding the initial vision.

Chief Cornplanter Council District Executive Jim Shaw called Etter’s project “one of the most impressive ones that I’ve seen. The work that was done was quite remarkable.”

The new stones are placed in three straight lines based on where the pipe markers had been. They surround the original Mattison headstone.

The sign matches the tasteful look of the new stones.

The bench at the back of the cemetery provides a visitors a chance to rest as they spend time at the spot. The bench was donated by Melissa Etter and she didn’t connect that the fleur-de-lis featured in the back rest is a symbol significant to Scouting.