Family builds backyard patio out of tombstones
Joline Bennett gestures to areas of Resthaven Cemetery in East Moline, Ill., on Aug. 11, where people were buried from the East Moline State Hospital. The Associated Press
October 18, 2006
EAST MOLINE, Ill. – Joline Bennett of LeClaire knows Resthaven Cemetery well.
She also knows the mystery behind hundreds of tombstones buried about a mile west in the back yard of an East Moline home. Bennett grew up in that home, where tombstones now make a backyard patio and surround parts of the home’s foundation.
Bennett said they came from Resthaven Cemetery in the late 1950s. Both she and her brother, Harry Turrell, remember when they were made available to the public.
“When my parents purchased the home in the early 1950s, that was when this was the state mental hospital and the state farm was here,” Mr. Turrell said. “My dad and I actually got the tombstones.”
His sister said an employee of the mental hospital made the tombstones available to anyone.
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The hundreds of tombstones that were made available to the public in the late 1950s are probably part of other backyards and patios in the Quad-Cities.
