Local cemeteries due for cleanup

Cemeteries all over Rockingham County are being neglected and overrun with brush and garbage. David Clay, a member of the cemetery committee for the Eden Preservation Society, is working with other members to clean up these spaces and preserve history.

Spray Cemetery, located across from First Wesleyan Church at 607 Church Street in Eden, is well over a century old. Clay wants to clear brush from the headstones, pick up the trash and restore it so family members can know who is buried there and have a chance to visit the grave sites.

“We’ve worked on several cemeteries in the area in restoration, and this is just one of many that need our help,” Clay said. “If we don’t remember and preserve our history – where we came from – then how can we move forward to the future? These people who helped to build our area should not be forgotten.”

Some of the cemeteries which are being worked on by the group include plots that hold families like the Barnetts, who are responsible for building the canal under Church Street in Eden. James Barnett came into the Spray area and built the canal for the Gristmill, according to Clay. He said somehow the Moreheads gained ownership and they built the mills and created what later became Spray.

Clay said he became involved in cemetery restoration back when he started looking into his family history. He said he wants to help people find their family history like he found his.

“When I was a kid, I loved old cars, and then I loved old houses,” he said. “When I started to go through them, I got really interested in my family history, and it sent me out to all these old cemeteries. I found that one of them was all grown up and fenced in and I wanted to clean it up.”

A cleanup of the old Spray Cemetery will be held this Saturday, March 6, at 10 a.m. The Eden Preservation Society is asking for volunteers who can come and help.

Participants are asked to bring heavy garden gloves and a pair or pruners or trim saws. There is also trash to pick up, so heavy duty trash bags are also needed. Their goal is to save the original plantings of the cemetery and clear out the rest.

Volunteers can stay as long as they feel comfortable. Parking will be available at the rear of First Wesleyan Church. For more information, contact David Clay at (336) 427-5711.