Neglected cemetery being reclaimed

Evergreen Cemetery, the final resting place for bank founder Maggie L. Walker, newspaper editor John Mitchell Jr. and other prominent blacks of Richmond, is being reclaimed from years of neglect.

About 25 volunteers, plus a tree-service company, spent about eight hours yesterday removing thick brush that had swallowed a section of the cemetery in the city's East End.

By the end of the day, a cluster of headstones had been uncovered, including one for Alfred D. Price, who was born a slave and later founded a funeral home in Jackson Ward. "He lived for those who loved him," Price's ornate marker from 1921 reads.

But regardless of their prominence, all of those buried at Evergreen deserve more respectful treatment, said cleanup organizer Deanna Lewis of Church Hill. While some graves, such as Walker's, have received some attention over the years, others have not.

"It's 100 percent the right thing to do," Lewis said of the cleanup. "A headstone, for some folks, is the only testament that someone was alive."

Lewis, who ran unsuccessfully in last week's election for the 7th District seat on the Richmond City Council, sees the weekend project as only a start. She's establishing the nonprofit Penny Cemetery Fund to maintain Evergreen and to pay tribute to Walker and her St. Luke Penny Savings Bank.

Lewis hopes the nonprofit can be ready to accept donations next month, allowing work to continue through the winter. She plans to hire M-C Hernandez Tree Service, which had a six-person crew working yesterday at no cost. Based on estimates, more than 100 days of work -- and potentially $250,000 -- would be necessary.

"For the scale of it, it's pretty overwhelming," Lewis said. "It's going to take a good deal of money to get it going, but you've got to start somewhere."

Susan Dickson of Church Hill hadn't been to Evergreen before yesterday but was transfixed by its history.

"It's an awesome place," she said, taking a breath from pulling weeds and clearing brush from atop graves.

Dickson also was horrified by the condition of the Braxton mausoleum, which has for years had a large hole in its cinderblock wall. An open casket is visible inside.

"I just think it's a shame to see it in this state," she said of the property.

Jeremy Satterlund dropped by with his 7-month-old son, River, to check out the cemetery and to lend support. "By being here, it'll allow me to tell people what's happening," he said.

Evergreen's majority owner, Isaiah Entzminger of UK Corp., could not be reached late last week, but he has previously called the cemetery a bad investment and said it's the responsibility of families to maintain it.

Lewis said she and others are stepping in because the arrangement clearly isn't working.

"It's essentially mowing somebody else's front yard," she said, "but it's a yard they can't handle."

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or .