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Help is on the way to volunteers at Evergreen and East End Cemeteries

PHOTO BY BRIAN PALMER

Photojournalist Brian Palmer has a piece up on Buzzfeed on the work to preserve Evergreen and East End Cemeteries:

The two cemeteries, which cover some 76 acres, were established at the end of the 19th century (Evergreen in 1891, East End in 1897), when white people barred black people from being interred in the same burial grounds.

Neither cemetery has a perpetual care fund to maintain the graves, because such funds weren’t required when they opened. Instead, families cleaned their own plots or paid others to. This worked out just fine until Jim Crow assaults on black wealth and agency battered the community, pulled it apart, and dispersed it. Most internments there ceased by the early 1980s.

Both cemeteries are now in desperate need of care. Veritable forests have grown where beautifully tended memorial parks once stood.

29 comments

DJ 07/10/2016 at 3:43 PM

How can I help? I live in the east end.

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Remmie Chew III 07/10/2016 at 9:42 PM

What can I do to help I pass this cemetery every day

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Joshua M Williams 07/11/2016 at 8:36 PM

Ok folks, i have set something up with a tire recycler to turn in the tires. I have a cargo van i can use to haul them but was wondering if anyone would be willing to help me load them up. If you are interested in helping me please call me at 919-612-6727. I will out of town next week for 2 weeks ao i am trying to do it really soon. Let me know. Im gonna run out there today to estimate how many tires it is.

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John Shuck 07/12/2016 at 1:29 PM

We always can use volunteers. Check out our web sites: eastendcemetery.wordpress.com and evergreencemeteryva.wordpress.com and look at the Work Day Calendar tab to see when we are working. Or contact me, John Shuck, jshuck@rocketmail.com

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John Shuck 07/12/2016 at 1:48 PM

Please check with me before going out to work on your own at either cemetery. Thanks.

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Joshua M Williams 07/12/2016 at 9:07 PM

Absolutely, good talking to you today John. Glad to see the tires are gone.

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