Crumbled Infrastructure: Moncrief Mt. Olive Graveyard

[Metro Jacksonville]

Crumbled Infrastructure: Moncrief Mt. Olive Graveyard



Cemeteries are increasingly becoming a feature of the countries broken infrastructure. Often neglected to the point of ruin, some have become fodder for vandals and even dumping grounds. This is largely because graveyards were traditionally cared for by cemetery associations, and over the years, they have folded, churches have closed or moved and relatives of the buried have died, experts said.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-jul-crumbled-infrastructure-moncrief-mt-olive-graveyard

[Joe]

Very good article. I remember hearing Joel McEachin talk about this problem almost a decade ago. Unfortunately, it's not an issue with a clear solution.

I know that some people like to use anything as an opportunity for a "shame on Jacksonville" rant, so I'd like to make a couple of points to put this issue into perspective.

- This is not a problem unique to Jacksonville. Very similar situations exist throughout the country. In fact, thanks to the hard work of people like Joel, Jax at least has the mechanisms in place to perform some maintenance on particularly important sites. Many cities don't even have this.

- Historically, cemeteries are not very permanent. Otherwise, you would find graves from the 1600s and 1700s regularly littered all along the eastern half of the country. Churches or towns would usually maintain cemeteries, but once enough time passed (i.e. once the descendants started dying off too) the grave marker would be removed, and someone else would be buried in the same spot. You can find beautiful old grave yards from 300 years ago in places like Boston and New Orleans, but these are the exceptions that only represent a tiny tiny fraction of the people who once lived in America during that time period.

In my opinion, the only good solution is to have a neighborhood or church non-profit group which cares enough to perform regular maintenance. Frankly, in these cases, proper maintenance is more about someone who gives a damn than having a lot of funds available. But in a lot of cases the local community might not really care enough - particularly if the cemetery is small.

[Hurricane]

Reminds me of Thriller by MJ...!

[duvaldude08]

Aside from proper upkeep, someone needs to step up to the plate and fix this cemetary little by little. ( a church or non profit) If Im not mistaken, my mother told me we have a relative buried out there.

[Cliffs_Daughter]

Why do we not have a cleanup task force for MJ? We could really be an outstanding community contributor, not just by posting our opinions and fact-finding missions.

If we stand by waiting for some non-profit or church to come in and help with anything, it may be a very long time. Surely 1 group doing a simple day's work would make a difference?

[hooplady]

I read somewhere that in some countries it is up to the descendants to maintain the graves of their ancestors, to the point of fresh flowers being expected every week.  If a grave is not maintained for a certain period of time, it is assumed that there are no remaining descendants (or none who care enough), the remains are removed and the plot is given to someone else.  This practice not only solves the problem of maintenance, but encourages younger generations to honor those who have come before.

Unfortunately, it doesn't solve the problem of people allowing their history to be lost.  I remember as a child that we used to picnic in our nearby cemetery, and ice-skate on the pond in the winter.  It was treated more as a local park than something scary.  There were always people around visiting their relatives, even asking advice of those who had gone before.  Attitudes towards death have certainly changed.

Personally I don't want to be stuck in the ground with lawn mowers running over me and plastic flowers a couple times a year.  I look at those photos and see something absolutely beautiful in the way the dead are returning to nature, as they should.  Look at the way those tree roots are enveloping the nearby occupant.  But dumping garbage on a loved one's grave?  No, that's offensive and hurtful.

OK, I know I'm weird.  I guess my point was, some infrastructure is meant to crumble.

[Timkin]

I agree with the above posts.   Especially the disrespect of dumping debris on someone's final resting place.  The other issues....the crumbling cement and caps of graves is pretty common with time ... That part I really think is to be expected.   If Metrojacksonville wants to organize a cleanup committee, that is fine with me.. Ive been trying to do it for Annie Lytle and I may divide that torch to other people who want to do that effort as well..  Letting trash and junk accumulate in these cemetaries is wrong.. It may well be that some of these folks who are laid to rest here have no descendants who maintain the sites.

My siblings and I maintain My Mother and her side of the family plots in Riverside Memorial Park... but when we pass out of this world, I seriously doubt anyone else will even bother... and that is why for me personally, I would choose cremation and be scattered to the wind... because the way I see it ,,,we came from this earth and to this earth we will return.....one way or another.   Very nice Article Stephen and Dan !

[GayLA]

oh man.....

[Timkin]

I read somewhere that in some countries it is up to the descendants to maintain the graves of their ancestors, to the point of fresh flowers being expected every week.  If a grave is not maintained for a certain period of time, it is assumed that there are no remaining descendants (or none who care enough), the remains are removed and the plot is given to someone else.  This practice not only solves the problem of maintenance, but encourages younger generations to honor those who have come before.

Unfortunately, it doesn't solve the problem of people allowing their history to be lost.  I remember as a child that we used to picnic in our nearby cemetery, and ice-skate on the pond in the winter.  It was treated more as a local park than something scary.  There were always people around visiting their relatives, even asking advice of those who had gone before.  Attitudes towards death have certainly changed.

Personally I don't want to be stuck in the ground with lawn mowers running over me and plastic flowers a couple times a year.  I look at those photos and see something absolutely beautiful in the way the dead are returning to nature, as they should.  Look at the way those tree roots are enveloping the nearby occupant.  But dumping garbage on a loved one's grave?  No, that's offensive and hurtful.

OK, I know I'm weird.  I guess my point was, some infrastructure is meant to crumble.

Not wierd at all.  But what is kind of ironic about this situation is :  Some one pays to buy a piece of ground for which to be laid to rest , or for a loved one to be laid to rest, not to mention ,in modern times, very costly expenses of expediting all of this..  and this is the end result..  Its sort of creepy...but I have heard that subdivisions have been built over old cemetaries... can cite no actual places .. but it would not surprise me. 

So we see these Cemetaries as they presently stand now.... what about 100 years from now? Will they still have markers on the graves, or will all of that be long gone.. Given the fact that trash and debris are now being dumped in these , which is sad.. nothing would surprise me.

[Lunican]

Group fights for recognition of veterans resting at abandoned Jacksonville cemetery
Graves of those who served stand amid trash and overgrowth.

The scraggly footpath into the woods didn’t seem to lead anywhere as Mike Gregory stared at it, waiting for the grocery store workers to finish loading his truck.

There’s a cemetery back there, one of the workers mentioned, and the former Marine decided to check it out.

First, as he came around the bend, Gregory was struck by the condition of the Moncrief Road site, with beer cans, old tires and other trash scattered about.

Then he started noticing how many of the tombstones were the distinctive Department of Defense-issued monuments given to veterans.

Full article:
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-08-10/story/group-fights-recognition-veterans-resting-abandoned-northwest