And folks, while we are on the subject of cleaning up old cemeteries, I would
like to pass along some info that I learned while doing surveys of cemeteries
in Clark co IN for an independent Biology project last year.
Sherri
From: Doug Rollison <drolliso(a)indy.net>
To: INPCRP-L(a)rootsweb.com <INPCRP-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Date: Saturday, February 27, 1999 2:39 PM
Subject: [INPCRP-L] Another aspect of cemetary conservation--please help!
Hello,
I have been interested in cemetary conservation for years. I did not
know about the legal problems we currently have, though. Now that I
know about it I am, like most people, outraged.
I'd like to offer my services as a plant conservationist. Many
varieties of old roses, peonies and other long-lived plants exsist
anymore only in neglected cemataries and abandoned homes. I am a little
afraid that when this movement takes off, one of the first things
restorationists might do is tear up these old plants, perhaps destroying
the only living cultivar of something. Hundreds of varieties of roses
thought long extinct have been restored to horticultural museums and
commerce by people like me. I currently have 6 I've rescued that I'm
attempting to identify through old catalogue and book descriptions and
comparing to my already known 33 varieties of old roses. If we've got
200-year-old varieties in our cemetaries they're worth saving, and could
provide important cultural clues for historians. I know of a bush of
Apothecary Rose in the Point Isabel Cemetary on a 150-year-old grave.
The rose dates from the middle ages.
If you could please give my name to people who are about to start
restoring a cemetary, or have them contact me, I would greatly
appreciate it. I know several people in central Indiana who are rose
and plant conservationists, and have contact with people all over the
state and the country who do the same thing. If the plant is going to
be dug up anyway and discarded we would love to have the chance to save
it and identify it.
Thank you for you time, and hoping to hear from you!
Tracey Rollison
4703 Topeka Trail
Indianapolis, IN 46241
317-856-7532
http://www.indy.net/~drolliso and click on roses link for information
on rose conservation.