The Dallas Morning News has an article, Cemeteries get new life as public gardens by Maureen Gilmer (Scripps Howard News Service) concerning cemeteries being used as basically public gardens. Maureen is a gardener instead of a genealogist, so it’s a unique take on the subject of cleaning up and preserving cemeteries.
Excerpt from the article:
There are a lot of folks worried about what they call “endangered cemeteries.” Many are being taken over by forest or urbanization. The gravestone markers are wearing down so their chiseled faces no longer record names and dates. For history and genealogy buffs – or anyone going back to the old hometown to look up the resting places of ancestors – this loss can be devastating.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of preserved cemeteries is in making history and ancestors seem more real to youngsters. Touching the stone of a famous man or woman buried nearby brings that human off the pages of a history book and into the 21st century.