Taphophilia.(dot) Com - City Blamed for Colonial Cemetery Damage

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City Blamed for Colonial Cemetery Damage

Written by DeadGirl
Monday, 04 October 2004
April Davis WSAV News 3 September 15, 2004 Colonial Cemetery at the corner of Oglethorpe Avenue and Abercorn Street is Savannah's oldest city burial ground, but years of neglect and vandalism have destroyed many of the tombstones. Hundreds of stones are missing. Some inscriptions have been worn or altered. ShermanÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s troops were blamed for some of the altering during the Union occupation of Savannah in 1864. Now, the city itself is now being blamed for damage. Colonial Cemetery was Savannah's primary burial ground between 1750 and 1853. YouÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll find many of the city's important historical figures there, including Button Gwinnett, a signer of the declaration of independence, Revolutionary War heroes and the first president of Georgia. 254 years after the first burial here, there are broken, cracked, and knocked over markers here, but not all the damage was done by vandals. Some neighbors say the people who maintain this park, SavannahÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Park and Tree Department crews, are doing more harm than good- bringing in riding lawn mowers doing damage to priceless tombstones. Without the money to fix them properly some have a temporary fix. One grave marker is propped up with plywood and a 2x4. Robert Edgerly lives a couple of blocks from the cemetery. He says the blades of a lawnmower sliced into at least one marker. "This thing has been here since the 1700's and in the last 6 months it's gotten more damage than it has in the last 100 years," said Edgerly. The director of the city Park and Tree Department, David White, says cemetery maintenance crews started using only push mowers last month, and he met with workers. "I wasn't too happy about it. We had a meeting and I think we pretty well got the situation worked out and they know they're expected to be extra careful in there from now on," said White. Crews used mulch and herbicides to keep grass away from the markers, so they would not damage them, but Edgerly says it's a bad plan. "Salt and the herbicides leech into the stones and cause damage, then when you mulch around the stones it brings more residue to very priceless sandstone," said Edgerly. The city and neighbors met Wednesday night and agree the cemetery should be treated less like a park and more like a historical treasure. The director of the Park and Tree Department says he wants the Cemetery Department to be more involved for historical preservation. The city also filed an insurance claim on some of the damaged stones and should receive money soon to fix them. Edgerly says he wants to form a "Friends of the Cemetery " citizens group to find funding for repairs. Forming of the group will be suggested at the next Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting September 21st. http://www.wsav.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSAV/MGArticle/SAV_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031777981918&path=!frontpage

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries