The White County Historical Society is asking for the public’s help in updating their list of local cemeteries, originally published in 1985.
“So far we have located 62 cemeteries with over 11,500 graves,” says Bill Huff, with the historical society. “Most of those are church cemeteries – not all of them, but most of them. Those are the easy ones. We still have, on two lists, 54 cemeteries. Most of them are family cemeteries out in the woods. Most of them are abandoned. I guess I know I can find about 10 of those. I already know where they’re at.”
Huff needs help finding the remaining 44 cemeteries. Anyone with information about where a family cemetery is located can contact him at 770-530-2306.
Huff says the organization’s effort is intended to benefit local genealogy and protect the sites.
“People need to find their ancestors’ gravesites, if possible,” Huff says. “If you have a cemetery on your land now, you’re not required to do anything. Leave it alone. That’s all you’re required to do. However, if that property is developed in the future, we want to protect that cemetery. And by protect it, I mean put a fence around it or plantings around it.”
A list of the 44 cemeteries will be available at whitecountyhistoricalsociety.com. White County Historical Society offices are located in the Historic Courthouse Museum on the square in downtown Cleveland. Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.