ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Since the first burial in 1793, many souls have been laid to rest at the St. Anne's cemetery in Annapolis. Monday, three organizations came together to preserve this historic site.
Brushes sweep across the headstones as vibrant colors of yellow and orange float through the air. Giving these markers a new sense of life.
"As you clean make sure that you give some time to who this person was when they lived what their names were. A lot of the names are connected you're recognize them from your history books,” said Ginger DeLuca, head of St. Anne's Cemetery Committee, as she spoke to the group of volunteers.
One of those being John Shaw, who helped build the dome at the State House.
St. Anne's Cemetery is one of the oldest in Annapolis, dating back to the 1700s. To preserve this important piece of history, Preservation Maryland, Historic Annapolis and the Maryland Center for History and Culture joined forces.
"So we're using soft brushes, soft bristled tools and water to clean these headstones and make sure they survive another 250 years,” said Nicholas Redding, President and CEO of Preservation Maryland.
"It's a way of giving back, a very important way of giving back. One that's often overlooked,” said Micah Connor who is with the Maryland Center for History and Culture.
Every headstone has a story, but the story can't be told if you can't see who the people are.
"This one died in 1898, I mean that's you know a long time ago, this person lived through the Civil War,” said Ginger DeLuca with the St. Anne's Cemetery Committee. She said this cemetery was started because there was no more room around the church.
"Back in the day if you lived in Annapolis, you had to be buried around the church circle unless you were Catholic and then you were buried in the Catholic cemetery,” said Deluca.
The question still remains of how many people are actually buried there. “A lot of people never put up gravestones. We are right now going through the Sexton's records to find out who they buried here but we really have no idea. It's probably over ten thousand,” said DeLuca.
The cemetery is still active, continuing to serve as a connection between the past and the future.
