I found a useful article at a “how-to” wiki site on an unusual but noble idea — How to Restore an Abandoned Cemetery. Also linked from this page is another article on Visit Old Gravesites for Research Purposes.

A few of my ancestors are buried at old cemeteries that were abandoned or no longer have churches associated with them. One appears to have been well maintained for decades, apparently by another church that took over responsibility for it. Another one was apparently overgrown for years until recovered within the last decade or two. At least one of my ancestors is buried in a small family graveyard that is now on an old farm.

Near where I love is an old cemetery overgrown by woods, tucked away next to a restaurant and off a busy road. I’d noticed it many times and thought about visiting but never got around to it until one foggy morning that I thought would be a good day to take my dog for a walk and to take some photographs.

It turned out to be the perfect day for this — the light fog and drizzling rain added such a mood, and the cemetery seemed quite unusual because of the old trees growing throughout the cemetery, often from old graves.

So I took some moody photographs and posted them to a web page. Some readers there told me a bit more about the history of the place. Apparently this cemetery was long abandoned until a clean up effort about a decade ago. The graves were mostly from an era just after the Civil War and and most belonged to freed slaves and their children. One friend told me she knew the place and found it creepy. I fond it relaxing and had a good feeling from paying my respects to those buried there.