Boy Scouts clean and restore historic Stephens City church cemetery
STEPHENS CITY — Boy Scout Troop 15 recently cleaned and restored the historic cemetery on the grounds of the Stephens City United Methodist Church.
The troop was seeking a project to earn service hours for their Scout ranks and the Citizenship in the Community merit badge, which requires scouts select a nonprofit organization, study it and volunteer eight hours of community service to enhance that charity.
Dr. John Bell Tilden, son of Captain Richard and Anna (Meyer) Tilden, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 9. 1761 (tombstone reads 1762), baptized in the Episcopal Church, and died July 31. 1838, in Stephensburg, now Stephen City, Virginia. He was a student at Princeton College during the revolutionary war and left college to join the Continental army, receiving a commission as ensign, May 28, 1779, in the Second Regiment Pennsylvania line, commanded by Colonel Walter Stewart.