OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Crews work to repair the Pioneer Cemetery wall in Fredonia on Main Street.

Repair work started this week on the shattered wall at Pioneer Cemetery in Fredonia.

Pomfret Town Supervisor Dan Pacos said that town engineers CPL “hired a firm to rebuild the wall with a slightly different design that should hold up better. They have begun the work — it was held up because they needed to order some stone to replace broken pieces, and for the different design.”

Pacos wasn’t sure who was doing the work because CPL hired them, but workers from Landscape Associate of WNY were seen at the Main Street site this week. The company is a commercial landscape contractor based in Niagara Falls.

The cemetery wall was rebuilt starting in fall 2024 — but a section of it didn’t last long at all. It collapsed on a rainy May 4, just days after its completion, heaving stones into the adjacent sidewalk. The sidewalk in front of the cemetery has remained officially closed ever since, though pedestrians regularly ignore the barricades.

The cause of the collapse garnered much speculation. Pacos stated at the May Pomfret Town Board meeting that CPL and original contractor N Mathews “feel it was caused by vandalism or other than natural causes.”