Cemetery Preservation Project at Mead Villa Started

Our first Cemetery Project for 2011 got kicked off today with two Investigators getting a head-start on the Mead Villa Plantation Cemetery Preservation.  Kim Frith and Mike Chapman began clearing the path from the Main House back to the Cemetery, which is located several hundred yards to the East.  The woods are completely grown up and thick, with no existing path to the burial ground.  The Cemetery itself is completely grown up and obliterated, except for a marble obelisk that marks the Cemetery.  We made great progress using a chain saw, lopping shears, a weed-eater, and a gas powered leaf blower.  We have completed clearing a five foot wide path back about 75% of the distance to the grave yard, and have done some clearing the rest of the way back to the plot.  We have not done any clearing in the cemetery itself.  Our first goal is to make a wide path back to the site which will allow us to use a four-wheeler to carry equipment and supplies as we work.  We are also clearing the wide path so that a 50" zero-turn mower can be used to mow the path and cut the cemetery area.  We hope such a path will encourage the on-going upkeep of the Cemetery and path once we clear it and make the path to it.  Further projects will include marking all the graves, using Don Estes and our two team dowsers Kim and Benjie.  Also, to list and do research reports on the people buried there, plot the cemetery and graves, GPS all locations, and install signage.  We will then turn all of our research and photographs over to the Natchez Historical Society in Natchez for archiving.