Evergreen Cemetery, revisited

Hey boys and girls, there's been a lot of work done at Evergreen Cemetery lately, especially in the main part where Maggie Walker and her kin are buried. The workers bit themselves off a huge chunk of work this time, and they ripped back the undergrowth right down to the naked earth.

For the most part, it was an admirable job. In only a few places did over-zealousness with task at hand show up in the guise of hacked tombstones, but considering the work is all gratis by volunteers and civic-minded companies, have at it!

Here are some photos from Saturday, Nov. 27. It's not readily apparent, but the cemetery's grounds begin almost from the entrance gate on Evergreen Rd., and extend past the Walker family site to where the road loops around again. It's a huge grounds, and most of it lies in a formidable tangle of weeds that is as-yet unraveled.

The entrance to The Four Cemeteries at Evergreen

Newspaper publisher John Mitchell, Jr. statue in tribute to his mother, Rebecca Mitchell

Mostly included for the view of the surrounding grounds it gives...

I was really taken by the carving on this piece...

It's an incredible change from just a couple of months ago....

Still waiting for the cleanup to extend to the Thompson plot...

Under decades of being concealed by the undergrowth, some of this fine work can again be seen...

Sadly, a lot of the ironwork is ruined; it's commendable that some remains...

Again, it looks great!

Here's the Walker family site, with Maggie Walker's grave at left...

I have no idea what kind of defoliant is used, but it does the job -- even on that awful ivy!

The Mitchell statue again, with a bit of artificial light thrown up for effect...

These photos begin the series of shots taken further up the road from Evergreen's gated entrance...

Where there is no surviving family to maintain the grave sites, they become overgrown quickly.

At their worst, they become completely consumed...

This is part of a cluster of graves that's unkempt, and nearly impossible to reach behind fallen trees...

It's a shame that people such as this, so appreciated for their life's work, have be lost to time...

This site was a particular surprise. Fortunately, someone has watched over it...

I tore away the ivy to expose this stone, which lay concealed under a lump of green.

C'mon, people. Can't we do better than this? It's not a fucking dump!