WestVirginiaCemeteryPreservationAssociation

Current Projects


Ongoing:

  • Continue process of developing the WVCPA website

    • Continue process of identifying and photo-documenting cemeteries, including latitude & longitude, for Mason, Jackson, & Putnam counties, now expanding to include Greenbrier, Kanawha, Marion, Monongalia, Monroe and Wirt counties through the work of WVCPA contributors across the country, as well as work done by WVCPA staff personally.

  • Continue the process of collecting photos and historic information of pioneer churches in the Mason, Jackson, and Putnam Counties. Expand to cover ever-outward counties from this central starting point.  Post this information on the web as soon as it is assembled.

  • Continue to proactively respond to postings for help with cemetery preservation or "rescue" on message boards at Ancestry.com and Genweb Genealogy forums, and those received by email, phone or mail contact.

  • Continue to maintain contact with families with cemetery access and maintenance projects  in specific family cemeteries across the state. 

 

Accomplished Spring-Summer 2004:

  • Continued process of developing the WVCPA website

    • Continued process of identifying cemeteries, including latitude & longitude, for Mason, Jackson, & Putnam counties, as well as any nearby or associated pioneer church buildings.  Expanded to cover ever-outward counties from this central starting point.  A basic listing of all named cemeteries clearly identified by the USGS was posted for all WV counties by end of calendar year 2004, meeting our goal.

  • Continued reading & photo-documentation of the following cemeteries in Mason, Putnam & Jackson Counties and posting on the WVCPA website: In focus this Spring were Barnette-Ward, Big Spruce, Pine Grove (Leon) and Brown Cemeteries in Mason Co.; Hicks, Mt. Zion Chapel, Walker Chapel, Centerpoint and Big Cherry Cemeteries (among others) in Putnam Co.; and Mt. Olive Chapel, Pleasant Hill, Mt. Moriah Church and Otterbein Cemeteries in Jackson Co.  Other cemetery photo surveys and readings from these three counties, and other counties across the state, were received regularly from our growing legion of "Tombstone paparazzi".

  • Continued the process of collecting photos and historic information of pioneer churches in the Mason, Jackson, and Putnam Counties. Expanded to cover ever-outward counties from this central starting point.  Posted this information on the web as soon as it was assembled.

  • Continued to proactively respond to postings for help with cemetery preservation or "rescue" on message boards at Ancestry.com and Genweb Genealogy forums.

  • Continued to maintain contact with families with cemetery access and maintenance projects  in specific family cemeteries across the state.  In particular, worked with C. Fielder of Mason Co., WV in encouraging the volunteer effort to restore Brown and Welsh cemeteries of Hartford, Mason Co., WV.  The first on-site work on the Brown Cemetery project took place November 15, 2003, and Welsh Cemetery in April 2004.  Watch this website for updates and photos of the work accomplished. From this past Spring:

The Brown Cemetery rescue will be continued on Saturday, April 24, 2004 from 9:00-3:00 or 4:00.  Lunch will be provided. An energetic and enthusiastic AmeriCorps team will be on site to help lead the volunteer community effort. 

Follow-up Note: Due to greater need, and the fact that Brown Cemetery is doing pretty well, the cemetery for the April 24 project day was changed to the nearby Welsh (a.k.a. Hartford) Cemetery by the local coordinators.  Be watching on the Mason County Cemetery page for a new page for Welsh Cemetery sometime this summer.

  • Continued tracking web site statistics to determine which aspects of the WVCPA site are most frequently visited by guests, and which pages appear to be of the most interest to our guests.

 

Accomplished Winter 2003/2004:

  • Continue process of developing the WVCPA website

    • Continue process of identifying cemeteries, including latitude & longitude, for Mason, Jackson, & Putnam counties, as well as any nearby or associated pioneer church buildings.  Expand to cover ever-outward counties from this central starting point.

  • Continue reading & photo-documentation of the following cemeteries in Mason County and posting on the WVCPA website: Wolfe Valley, Kimberling-Sayre, Myers, Smith Church, Baden Baptist, Riffle, Gray-Smith, and Promised Land.  

October 2003: photographed over 500 tombstones in the above cemeteries.  Locations and general conditions of numerous other family or otherwise private cemeteries noted for future documenting.  Work continuing through the summer and early fall to edit the photos and post them to the WVCPA website for researchers' use. 

  • Continue reading and photo-documentation of cemeteries in Parchment Valley, Jackson County.

October 2003: photo surveys done of Given Cemetery, Pleasant Hill Cemetery, and Mt. Moriah Church Cemetery, over 500 photos taken.  Photos currently being edited and pages being constructed. Completed photo survey of Rock Springs Cemetery.  See WV Cemeteries link below to view web pages for each as editing work is completed.

  • Begin the process of collecting photos and historic information of pioneer churches in the Mason, Jackson, and Putnam Counties. Expand to cover ever-outward counties from this central starting point.  Post this information on the web as soon as it is assembled.

In progress - many new cemetery pages have been added over the winter months.

  • Continue to more proactively respond to postings for help with cemetery preservation or "rescue" on message boards at Ancestry.com and Genweb Genealogy forums.

    Being done actively.

  • Continue to maintain contact with families with cemetery access and maintenance projects  in specific family cemeteries in Kanawha County and Mason County.  In particular, working with C. Fielder of Mason Co., WV in encouraging the volunteer effort to begin to restore Brown Cemetery of Hartford, Mason Co., WV to its original grandeur.  The first on-site work on this project took place November 15, 2003.  Watch this website for updates and photos of the work accomplished.

The Brown Cemetery rescue will be continued on Saturday, April 24, 2004 from 9:00-3:00 or 4:00.  Lunch will be provided. An energetic and enthusiastic AmeriCorps team will be on site to help lead the volunteer community effort.

  • Begin tracking web site statistics to determine which aspects of the WVCPA site are most frequently visited by guests, and which pages appear to be of the most interest to our guests.

Being done - hence the "WebStat" logos at the bottom of each web page, which provide us with counts of unique hits (viewings) of each web page.

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 Updated: 11 January 2013