MIDDLEBURG \u2013\u00a0When 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\u00a0important\u00a0ambitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
First, it would satisfy the final\u00a0and most significant\u00a0step\u00a0of his Eagle Scout Project. But more importantly, it would honor his grandmother\u00a0in a way he believes she\u00a0would\u00a0appreciate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it’s really personal,\u201d the Fleming Island junior said. \u201cIt’s\u00a0kind of inspired\u00a0by my grandmother, Sherry. She lived in Oklahoma, and she passed recently, a\u00a0couple\u00a0of\u00a0Christmases 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy\u00a0first idea for an Eagle Scout project was doing a thing with\u00a0Billion\u00a0Graves, which is\u00a0an\u00a0organization that allows volunteers to go around and take pictures of graves around the country\u00a0for\u00a0people who\u00a0don’t\u00a0know where their loved ones are buried can\u00a0go and find\u00a0them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Martens then met Kathy Kass, a member of the Clay County Historic Preservation Board, a Historic Cemetery\u00a0Preservationist\u00a0and\u00a0a\u00a0Florida Public Archaeology\u00a0Network Heritage Monitoring Scout. She had been doing research on the\u00a0McKendre\u00a0Hammock Cemetery off County Road 220 across the street from Doctors Inlet Elementary.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was originally owned by Henry Wilford in\u00a01897, and the majority of approximately 50 graves in\u00a0the\u00a0lot are from the Wilford,\u00a0Burris\u00a0and Fountain families.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wilford Propane Gas owner Doug Wilford and his children, on Kingsley Avenue in Orange Park, are\u00a0dependents\u00a0of\u00a0Henry Wilford.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Martens said he and fellow members of Troup 482 started clearing the cemetery on Jan. 1.\u00a0They\u2019ve\u00a0worked five days from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., cutting away brush\u00a0and pulling roots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI focused\u00a0on getting\u00a0all\u00a0the bushes out here so we can have a clean cemetery,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cOnce we get that\u00a0out,\u00a0that’s\u00a0technically the limit of my Eagle Scout project. But I want to come back later and help restore the fence,\u00a0maybe lay\u00a0some mulch everywhere to keep the plants from going out.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0also\u00a0going to come back later with Mrs.\u00a0Kass and her husband to\u00a0help them\u00a0raise and clean the\u00a0headstones,\u00a0too. So\u00a0that’s\u00a0mainly the\u00a0gist of what\u00a0we’re\u00a0doing right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0end\u00a0of clearing the cemetery. All\u00a0the large Holly bushes,\u00a0we\u00a0got\u00a0most\u00a0of them\u00a0taken out.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0focusing on getting the last little shrubs pulled out and then raking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is a Confederate soldier buried there, and several of those\u00a0entombed\u00a0there were born in the 1880s.\u00a0Kass said many are missing headstones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the process, a\u00a017-year-old Eagle Scout found a unique way to restore the legacies of 50 souls who had been abandoned\u00a0by indifference and overgrowth, all while paying homage to his grandmother.<\/p>\n
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