MIDDLEBURG – When Caleb Martens heard about an abandoned and forgotten cemetery hidden under dense underbrush and thickets of Holly bushes, his plan to restore the century-old graveyard fulfilled two important ambitions. 

First, it would satisfy the final and most significant step of his Eagle Scout Project. But more importantly, it would honor his grandmother in a way he believes she would appreciate. 

“For me, it’s really personal,” the Fleming Island junior said. “It’s kind of inspired by my grandmother, Sherry. She lived in Oklahoma, and she passed recently, a couple of Christmases ago. She used to work in a cemetery. And for me, this is my way of honoring her as my grandmother of cleaning up a cemetery. 

“My first idea for an Eagle Scout project was doing a thing with Billion Graves, which is an organization that allows volunteers to go around and take pictures of graves around the country for people who don’t know where their loved ones are buried can go and find them.” 

Martens then met Kathy Kass, a member of the Clay County Historic Preservation Board, a Historic Cemetery Preservationist and a Florida Public Archaeology Network Heritage Monitoring Scout. She had been doing research on the McKendre Hammock Cemetery off County Road 220 across the street from Doctors Inlet Elementary. 

It was originally owned by Henry Wilford in 1897, and the majority of approximately 50 graves in the lot are from the Wilford, Burris and Fountain families. 

Wilford Propane Gas owner Doug Wilford and his children, on Kingsley Avenue in Orange Park, are dependents of Henry Wilford.

“I didn’t know about the cemetery,” Doug said. “I have a picture of Henry Wilford that was taken in Green Cove Springs. I’m going to visit the cemetery since I have so many great, greats buried there.”

Martens said he and fellow members of Troup 482 started clearing the cemetery on Jan. 1. They’ve worked five days from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., cutting away brush and pulling roots. 

“I focused on getting all the bushes out here so we can have a clean cemetery,” he said. “Once we get that out, that’s technically the limit of my Eagle Scout project. But I want to come back later and help restore the fence, maybe lay some mulch everywhere to keep the plants from going out. I’m also going to come back later with Mrs. Kass and her husband to help them raise and clean the headstones, too. So that’s mainly the gist of what we’re doing right now. 

“We’re at the end of clearing the cemetery. All the large Holly bushes, we got most of them taken out. We’re focusing on getting the last little shrubs pulled out and then raking.” 

There is a Confederate soldier buried there, and several of those entombed there were born in the 1880s. Kass said many are missing headstones. 

In the process, a 17-year-old Eagle Scout found a unique way to restore the legacies of 50 souls who had been abandoned by indifference and overgrowth, all while paying homage to his grandmother.