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Butler Cemetery in Thomaston is small in size, measuring just a third of an acre.
One might also say it’s big in spirit, with several military veterans among the people buried there, including a soldier named Phineas Butler who fought in the Revolutionary War.
But after one of Butler’s direct descendants recently made an offer to buy the tiny cemetery from the town — so that he and his family could eventually be buried there — the unusual deal did not sit well with residents, who shot it down at a town meeting last month amid accusations of closed-door dealing.
An official later considered the possibility of leasing out the cemetery instead, but that further embittered another family that has taken care of the graveyard over the years and buried one of its own there. Only now has Lawrence Butler, the part-time Thomaston resident who proposed buying the cemetery, given up on the plan.
While the deal would have carried benefits for the town — putting the land on the tax rolls and saving the town the cost of maintaining it — the backlash has demonstrated how even seemingly small municipal transactions can draw intense local reactions.
“The purpose of [buying it] was to restore the cemetery to the way it was when, in 1832, it was deeded over by one of my ancestors, Charles Butler,” Lawrence Butler said in an interview. “My sister and I were prepared to invest about $100,000 into taking care of it.”
Last October, the town’s Select Board authorized the sale agreement for Butler. He would pay $518.38 in the deal, with $18.38 for the plot itself, and $500 to reimburse the town’s fees. Butler would also have established a trust to take care of the cemetery, per the sale agreement.
The deal arose after Butler moved to Thomaston in 2006 and his sister mentioned that many of their ancestors were buried in a cemetery there, he said. In 2023, he asked the town if he could just buy grave sites in the cemetery for himself, his wife, his son and his son’s wife. But the closed-off cemetery is so old, officials did not know how many people were buried there and where.
Butler then offered to buy and maintain the entire cemetery, using ground-penetrating radar to determine where people were buried.
But in early February, residents voted to reject the sale. According to the Midcoast Villager, they questioned whether the $25,000 that would be allotted to Butler’s trust was enough to take care of the cemetery. Others said the town should maintain the property because of the veterans buried there.
Much of the opposition came from Donna Godfrey and her daughter, Jamie Fullerton. Godfrey and her late husband, who is also buried in Butler Cemetery, took care of the small plot for more than 40 years, according to the Villager. Godfrey, who lives across the street from the cemetery, did not respond to a request for comment.
The Villager reported that in 2021, Godfrey asked the town to take care of the cemetery. Butler Cemetery was then added to the town’s maintenance budget.
But Godfrey opposed selling the land to Butler because Thomaston never paid her for her work and had not informed her about the deal prior to arranging it, according to the Villager. In a letter to the PenBay Pilot, Fullerton accused the town of conducting a “secretive agreement that went on behind closed doors without any sort of community input.”
Town Manager Kara George said in an interview that Butler actually approached the town to purchase the cemetery first. The deal was arranged over months of public meetings of the town’s cemetery board and the Select Board, she said. The town also worked with its attorney on the sale.
“There’s a lot of discussion before it goes on a warrant for the voters to vote on,” George said. “And I would say that information is always available. We want people to be informed before they come in and vote, so there isn’t anything to hide.”
The issue has stirred intense reactions, especially from Godfrey and Fullerton. At a cemetery board meeting on Feb. 20, chair and Select Board member Sandy Moore suggested that the plot could be leased to Butler instead.
After attendees debated that possibility, Godfrey and Fullerton left the meeting, calling the board members “a bunch of liars, a bunch of crooks.”
Now, Butler has rescinded his offer to buy or lease the cemetery. The lot remains under the town’s care, along with two other local cemeteries.
“We respect the will of town meetings,” Butler said. “You know, this is one of the reasons why we love Maine.”
Jules Walkup is a Report for America corps member. Additional support for this reporting is provided by BDN readers.
