To find the small plot of land that celebrates one of the Island's most famous and respected residents, just stroll up to the back of the building that bears her name.

It is there, nestled in the back of the old village cemetery on Franklin street in Vineyard Haven, past old headstones etched with names like Luce, West and Norton, tucked under tall cedars and an overgrown holly bush, in the long shadows of the theatre to which she donated money to renovate and preserve. There you can find the final resting place of Katharine Cornell.

But when you get there, you might not be impressed with what you find. The grave of one of the Island's most cherished citizens is suffering from neglect.

"It is certainly overgrown and unfortunately doesn't celebrate her life as it could by being stuck in the back of the building," selectman and board chairman Ray LaPorte said this week.

"She was a very generous woman and a good friend to this town and it isn't kept up the way it should be," said Elizabeth R. (Bizzy) Suppes, a longtime friend of Miss Cornell and former member of the town planning board. "She was also a world famous actress with an outstanding voice you couldn't reproduce, and I think the town should really keep better care of where she was buried."

Assistant town administrator Aase Jones agreed. "I am embarrassed by its appearance, it just shouldn't be like that," she said. "There is a lot we could do with it in terms of pruning the shrubs and cleaning up the bench to make it nicer. It could be really beautiful."

For most, the gravesite of Miss Cornell, the world-famous stage actress and longtime resident of the Vineyard whose contributions to the Island were as significant as the ones she made beyond Island shores, is an unknown memorial. Located just behind the town hall and the Katharine Cornell Theatre - the public space she paid to preserve - the gravesite was created at her request after she died at her Tashmoo home in 1974. Her cremated remains were interred under a marble marker with her name etched into it, a few feet from a white marble bench that was inscribed with the words: "Always in greeting, never in farewell."

But time - and the town, it seems - has forgotten Miss Cornell's memorial. It is now being overtaken by unkempt cedar trees and holly bushes. The white bench has a small chunk missing from it and has accumulated a thick layer of mildew and moss. Scraggly tufts of grass mixed with dirt are hidden under dead leaves.

Earlier this year, a new fuel tank for the town hall was placed on the back corner of the gravesite, drawing more criticism of the town's maintenance. The site is at the back wall of the building, and a cement base was poured on part of the grave site to support the new tank.

"We are going to have that relocated," Ms. Jones said. "It shouldn't have been put there to begin with and it is going to be moved."

Some residents have begun to notice. Last week the selectmen received a letter from a neighbor drawing attention to the sorry condition of the gravesite.

"The beginnings are there - the lovely bench with its inscription and the simple gravestone, the holly tree and grassy area - but so overgrown and neglected . . . I have been feeling for a long time that ‘this is no way to treat a lady,' " wrote Sally McAdoo Coy. The complete text of the letter is published on the editorial page in today's Gazette.

In fact, the appearance of Miss Cornell's gravesite has been of concern for some time. Town records show letters dating back to the late 1980s appealing to the selectmen for better care.

But Mr. LaPorte said it is a matter for the town's department of public works (DPW).

"That charge is up to the DPW," he said. "They manage the cemeteries in town and they have their own budget and control over how they maintain the town's property. The public isn't too aware of her memorial and I just don't think it was ever a priority for the DPW."

The graveyard is one of four cemeteries maintained by the town DPW. Director Fred LaPiana could not be reached for comment.

And while Mr. LaPorte acknowledged this week that the gravesite needs attention, he said no one is sure when or if the work will take place.

"Could it be cleaned up and be more celebrated? I am sure it could, and I am sure it will," Mr. LaPorte said. "But sadly it is just the nature of a small town to say no to increased expenditures for maintaining town buildings and property. And in this case, I think over the years the gravesite's care has either been postponed or ignored, and that is unfortunate."