Charles City’s Riverside Cemetery Chapel will be open over Memorial Day weekend

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Riverside Cemetery Chapel will be open for viewing and help locating graves over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

The chapel has undergone major restoration in the past several years since a group of Charles City eighth-graders began the project in 2016. The annual Memorial Day weekend opening is one of the few opportunities to view the progress of the project from the inside.

Diane Meyer, a member of the Women’s Cemetery Improvement Association board, said volunteers will be available to answer questions, help locate graves and visit about the chapel project over the weekend.

The chapel will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday, May 29-31.

Meyer said water will also be available that weekend on the north side of the cemetery to help water plants.

The chapel was built in 1907 out of native stone from a quarry a few miles from the cemetery. The roof has been replaced and stained glass windows were restored and reinstalled in January 2020.

The effort to restore the chapel began with the 2016-17 Charles City eighth-grade class in a project called Tomb it May Concern. In 2017, student organizers and the Riverside Cemetery association submitted a successful grant application from the Andres Memorial Trust, which earmarked $25,000 to go toward chapel restoration. Charles City Middle School students have also raised more than $30,000 through annual trivia nights to benefit the chapel restoration project.

The St. Charles Cemetery Association and the Women’s Cemetery Improvement Association own, operate and care for cemetery located on the Northwest side of Charles City.