Laura Kebede has a great look at the importance of The Four Cemeteries at Evergreen and the volunteer effort to clear back the forest in this morning’s RTD:
Today many of the thousands of grave markers in the four cemeteries are entangled in brush, litter and fallen trees. The site is the most visible example of the consequences after years of neglect for the Richmond region’s historical cemeteries.
The cleanup effort fueled by volunteers usually with no familial ties to the people buried there could be likened to the fable of the tortoise and the hare — slow yet steady. Organizers document each unearthed name of the deceased buried there to fill in the blanks for thousands of family trees.
- East End Cemetery clean-up blog
- John Shuck on Twitter
- Prints for sale to benefit the volunteer cleanup effort
- Evergreen Cemetery Flickr Group
- Evergreen on CHPN (previously)
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What interests me about the growing awareness of state of Evergreen is that is represents an opportunity of the notoriously passionate Church Hill residents to put their effort into something positive rather than opposing something.
And I’m a neighbor! Thanks for sharing the link, John.
Good morning. Has Dept of Parks given formal permission to take down brush, trees, etc? If these are private, not necessary. If public, permission would be helpful.
@Sundagge – the core issue is that this is a privately owned cemetery with no provision for perpetual care.