Residents of Tilton and Northfield came together over the weekend to clean up the Tilton cemetery in the wake of destructive vandalism at the Tilton family mausoleum earlier in April.

Organized by members of the Tilton Historical Society, about 30 people came out to clean up the older parts of the cemetery, where the Tilton family mausoleum is located and where graves date back as far as the pre-Civil War period.

Leslie Rose of Northfield said she’s a member of the Tilton Historical Society and was sickened when she heard about the vandalism at the Tilton family crypt. 

“That was just terrible, awful news,” she said. “Really bad and so sad.”

But Rose was touched by the outpouring of community support for the cemetery cleanup.

“Honestly I’m surprised at how many people are actually here,” she said. “It’s for the community.”

The mausoleum, which sits on top of the tallest hill in the cemetery and was constructed to house the remains of the family Tilton, which is the town’s namesake, was vandalized by an unknown assailant at some point on the night of April 15.

Vandals cut through a brass gate and into the crypt, stealing brass fixtures but leaving the family’s remains mostly undisturbed.

The cemetery did not have surveillance cameras at the time of the robbery, which cemetery sexton Paul Tierney said may have to change soon to deter future attempts at vandalism.

Volunteers at the cleanup were treated to snacks and refreshments donated by Hannaford, Walmart and Dunkin' at exit 20. 

“They were our big donors for snacks and waters and stuff, more than we expected actually,” Tilton Historical Society Chair John Ciriello, who helped to organize the event, said Saturday.

“Even though we had a great showing today, probably about the same amount of people had other events planned and they couldn’t make it, so it would have been double this,” Ciriello said. “It says the people of Tilton really care about their history. A lot of the people that are buried here are people that we talk about on our Facebook page and all of that, so it’s kind of like you’re in someone’s house and you’re helping them clean up the house. It shows there’s a lot of pride in the community and they want to help make it better.”

Ciriello said he’s heard many reactions from local people regarding the crypt vandalism.

“Everybody’s very upset as you know. The family is heartbroken that somebody would do that,” he said. “But this is because of that, we wanted to kind of counterbalance the negativity that happened with the break-in, so this is why we had such a great outpouring of people here today.”

Jon Scanlon of the Tilton Selectboard spends some of his spare time cleaning up statues and monuments in Tilton and attended the cemetery cleanup over the weekend. 

“Fifteen years ago, I started cleaning the statues in town, the marble ones, and doing that as well as the bronze ones,” Scanlon said. “I’ve done a few here with the permission of the trustees — it’s a nice thing to do, Tilton has a lot of history. It’s enjoyable, I like doing it, and it gets everybody together and a part of the community.”

Scanlon’s heard plenty of feedback from constituents, most of whom have expressed shock and sadness regarding the crypt vandalism.

“I think people were really horrified that somebody would go that low,” he said. “Nobody’s ever touched it. What takes somebody, now, to decide that they can go and start defacing monuments and things, various graveyards? Aren’t they kind of pushing it? They’ll get some money for the materials, unless they get caught. But was that really worth it?”

Scanlon said the cemetery cleanup is an example of what a community can do to support itself.

“There’s a lot of people who have a lot of pride in Tilton and the community, and realizing the history behind it and all that it took to get us to the point where we are now,” he said. “The past few years, we’ve seen momentum for restoring things — there are a few younger people here today, which is great. After we’re gone, the older folks that are doing this, it’s great to set examples so that the younger guys can start getting involved.”

Tim Rose, vice chair of the historical society, said he was pleasantly surprised with the support community members provided.

“It’s great, it’s a beautiful day, I’m sure people have better things to do,” Rose said. “We’re going to have more than one of these and hopefully we’ll get even more people — it’s way past due.”

Rose said he was saddened by the vandalism at the crypt.

“I was thoroughly disgusted — my ancestors are right here,” he said. Several members of his family are buried in the older sections of the cemetery, including his great-great-grandfather. 

Tilton Selectboard Chair Pat Consentino said the vandalism took her by surprise and that Tierney could use more support there.

“I was devastated, absolutely sick to my stomach. My heart was in my throat. My heart went out to all of the families that have loved ones buried here, it’s just atrocious. People need to respect this,” she said. “Cemeteries are very near and dear to me and I support them wholeheartedly.”

Consentino said she is hopeful Tilton police will catch the vandals. 

“Hopefully they catch him and hopefully they can come out and do some community service,” she said. “I can’t comment, it’s an ongoing investigation.”

But Consentino said the show of support speaks to the cohesiveness of the community in Tilton.

“This is really awesome, this is a great community effort,” she said. “John [Ciriello] does really super with the historical society, it’s a great community effort. We really support Paul [Tierney] and all of his efforts to keep this together. He works on such a tiny budget, he puts his own time, some of his own tools, he comes and puts his heart and soul into this. ... Our towns need to support the cemetery trustees.”

No charges have been filed in the vandalism incident. Anyone with information about the crime should contact the Tilton Police Department at 603-286-8207.