LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Saturday morning, volunteers and lawmakers began work to clean up the historic Greenwood Cemetery in the Chickasaw neighborhood.
The cemetery serves as the gateway to the Chickasaw community. Foster Academy is right on the edge of the property.
State Sen. Gerald Neal and State Rep. Reginald Meeks announced Thursday the joined effort to provide maintenance to the cemetery with support of the NABVETS, a black veterans organization led by Commander Shedrick Jones.
Both state lawmakers called for support in the continued maintenance of the Greenwood Cemetery. The Cemetery was opened in 1903 for the burial of African American residents.
But it looks much different now than it did back then. Gravestones are now buried in thick grass and covered by weeds.
“The land isn’t getting bigger, but the job keeps getting bigger," said Jo Ann Orr with NABVETS. "The grass gets higher and we keep coming and it keeps coming back. We need some help.”
Volunteers were at the cemetery cutting the grass which Neal said has not been cut for over four years. This is not the first time crews have worked to maintain the historic site.
In the late 1980s, several problems were identified with respect to LCC’s burial practices, handling of human remains, and fiscal prudence. In 2001, the Jefferson Circuit Court issued an order to prevent these practices.
Commander Jones says a couple hundred veterans are buried at the cemetery, and their legacy is not being honored with an overgrown resting place.
“We wasn’t going to forget anybody or leave them behind," said Jones. "Well obviously that is the biggest lie in the world.”
The goal is to not only clean up the whole cemetery, but maintain it.
The cost for maintenance is high, therefore initiatives, such as this have been mounted by volunteers, and three court authorized entities, NABVETS and Friends of the Greenwood Cemetery, and Dismas Charities.
Anthony Oxendine, the owner of Spring Valley Funeral Homes, offered to fund the maintenance of the cemetery for all of 2020.
“This weekend is Father’s Day and I miss my father, I buried him last year," said Oxendine. "And it just really breaks my heart to see these fathers out here without anyone taking care of this cemetery."
More from WHAS11:
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.