Historic cemeteries along the Blue Ridge Parkway record decades of Appalachian life.

Most recently, FRIENDS has added our ‘Adopt-a-Cemetery’ project in response to a National Park Service (NPS) request for assistance with maintaining the more than 70 historic cemeteries located within the Parkway boundaries.



This is a truly exciting project that has begun with identifying cemetery boundaries, cleaning and maintenance but will expand to include grave marker data collection for the Blue Ridge (BLRI) Cemetery Database, locating birth/death/marriage records in the local county courthouse and an effort to locate heirs that might be interested in maintaining the grave sites. This is fascinating work for new or dedicated genealogy enthusiasts especially.

The NPS will certify any groups or individuals that adopt a cemetery, allowing them to do weed eating and tree trimming.

INTERESTED?

If you’ve got a group interested in adopting a cemetery, you need to make sure you have a basic understanding what is involved to ensure that it is a good fit for you or your group. FRIENDS will work with you in all aspects, but we do recommend that you do some up front research yourself. We request all individuals or groups wishing to adopt a cemetery do so for at least a year, and preferably three to five. It takes time to get you or your group set up, trained and working productively and so we do ask for a minimum commitment. Of course, we are thrilled to have you stay on with the cemetery for as long as you like. We have individuals and groups that enjoy being outside, find the work rewarding and stay with their choice of adopted area long term.

Found your cemetery? then there are a few details to take care of. You’ll need to complete and submit some forms, await approval from the National Park Service and FRIENDS, and if approved, take some training from other FRIENDS volunteers.

We’ve outlined the entire procedure for you below.