Who are your most distant ancestors? Are their graves marked? Are the burial places well maintained? Would it upset you if their resting place was disturbed or destroyed by natural or man-made forces?
With the popularity of genealogy programs like Ancestry.com and home DNA kits, more people are able to connect with locations where previous generations of their family lived and were buried.
The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation recently launched the Louisiana Register of Historic Cemeteries, a public database to increase awareness of historic cemeteries for their protection, maintenance and respect for those buried within them.
Starting with a list of approximately 8,500 cemeteries across the state for which the name and location is known, the program will rely on help from the public to provide photos and more information about the age, size, boundary, and condition of burial grounds. There also is an opportunity to share information about cemeteries which are not shown on the map, which may be abandoned or known by only a few people.
In order for a site to be certified on the Louisiana Register of Historic Cemeteries, at least one of the following conditions must be met:
• The site must be 50 years or older since the first burial; and/or
• must contain the burial of a person of local, state or national importance by reason of civic, public or military service, cultural achievement or historical significance; and/or
• must contain structures that are considered architecturally significant.
Knowledge about a family cemetery could lead to improved maintenance of the site and increased tourism. The database also has the opportunity to reduce damage to historic burials and added expenses and delays to construction projects, like buildings and roads, when an unknown cemetery is discovered once a project is underway.
The website also offers a list of resources on cemetery legislation, conservation and documentation, as well as the meanings of symbolism most often found. Information is also available about the various types and replacement of damaged military markers.
The Louisiana Trust wants this site to be a tool for the public to use for education and preservation of historic cemeteries around our state. The Trust works in all 64 parishes and has seen historic cemeteries in all conditions from well-manicured, to abandoned, to endangered. Cemeteries from cities to the coast and the information they tell us about a community are under threat from erosion, storms and subsidence.
To see which historic sites are in your area or to contribute information and photos about a historic cemetery, visit the database. There is no fee for nominating a cemetery to be certified in the Louisiana Register of Historic Cemeteries.
