Warfordsburg Presbyterian Church | Project Launch Cemetery Documentation Event

Logan Desaulniers

Dec 15, 20202 min read

Updated: May 8, 2021

With all my practice and preparation, it was time to plan and organize a documentation event. I chose the cemetery at the Warfordsburg Presbyterian Church in Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania. The church oversees a portion of the cemetery while a separate association oversees another portion of the cemetery. I set the event date for Saturday, October 31, 2020, and sent this invitation to a small group of family and friends. Halloween seemed like a perfect day for it.

With approximately 400 graves to document, I hoped for three to four volunteers to help with the project launch event. By the time Saturday arrived, I knew that at least five volunteers would be there to photograph graves.

The day was clear and temperate. A total of nine people showed up, including me. I gathered the group and gave instructions on taking photos. I answered questions and shared information about BillionGraves. We looked at large drawings of the cemetery for reference, and then I assigned each photographer two adjacent rows labeled alphabetically. Some volunteers finished their assigned rows well before others, so everyone began working together to photograph unfinished rows and cover the remaining rows.

Two hours later we had uploaded and contributed about 1,000 photographs documenting this cemetery. The work turned out to be a little more difficult than anticipated. Although the cemetery is well-maintained, a number of surface stones had sunken into the ground and were overgrown with grass and sod. We used a shovel to dig grass and dirt from around the sunken stones. Brooms were handy to sweep and clean dirt and mud from the uncovered stones. Three of the participants were school-age children who swept away dirt and dried grass with small hand brushes. My grandfather, one of the volunteers, contacted the church after the event was over and asked about disposing of the piles of grass and dirt left behind from uncovering the surface stones. Thank you to the kind gentleman in the community who came and took away the piles of grass and dirt.

When the last photos were taken, we shared snacks and bottled water. Everyone had a good time. Several volunteers said that they enjoyed taking photos and would participate in a future documentation event.