Monday, March 13, 2006

(19-1) CEMETERY PROJECT

Evergreen Cemetery Photographed

Saturday, 18 February, was a warm, sunny day when eighteen energetic BGS members gathered to document the tombstones in Evergreen Cemetery in Cocoa. Although the cemetery is small, many graves were overgrown or sunken and required much preparation before being photographed. Three buried stones were found by probing and were uncovered.

Two people stopped by while we were there. One was just curious. The other, Ada Lawrence, knew most of the people buried there and led us to find a buried baby stone which was of one of her cousins. For many years, Ada has cared for both Evergreen Cemetery and Pinecrest Cemetery where her family is buried. Pinecrest is across Clearlake Drive from Evergreen and will be a future project.

Participants were: Janet Boyd, Connie Bradish, Pete Bradish, Dianna Brown, Joan Bullard, Doug Burnett, Polly Carman, JoAnne Chambers, Betty Eichhorn, Patrice Green, Elaine Harvey, Pat Jorgensen, David Larson, Mary Jane Law, Barbara Maloney, Jackie Palmer, Dee Swink and Jodelle Wilson.

We could have used a half dozen more workers which would have reduced the time necessary to finish the project. It is important to document these stones before they deteriorate further or are vandalized. The project also demonstrates ways to safely clean and photograph stones. Resolve now to join us on the next photography project to learn valuable techniques that you can use on your own family's stones.

In 2003, the Board decided to photograph the tombstones in the pioneer cemeteries of central Brevard. With the blessing of the City of Cocoa which maintains these two cemeteries, we photographed stones in the Cocoa Cemetery on Halloween 2003 and in Hilltop Cemetery on Valentine's Day 2004. This turned out to be a very educational event as we all learned the techniques to get good photos while not harming the stones in any way.

The hurricanes in the summer of 2004 waylaided our plans to continue the project. However last spring, our president, Peter Bradish, did photograph four tiny cemeteries on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Those photographs and some of the Cocoa Cemetery photographs may be seen at: Click on the cemetery names that have photos.

Betty Eichhorn, Chairperson

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