Cemetery cleanup: Local organization helps Boy Scouts clean up property

BYRON, Ga. – The Sukey Hart Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution helped local Boy Scouts clean up Shiloh Cemetery.

The cemetery is between Warner Robins and Byron by a housing development near Eagle Springs Elementary School. The grounds were home to a church congregation back in 1881 but the building was demolished during the 1960s; now all that is left is a seven-acre cemetery filled with the graves of Confederate soldiers and other local family names.

The cemetery was discovered by homeowners Ron and Nadja Bohnstedt and after doing research on the grounds, they initially decided to help clean and restore the cemetery.

According to DAR Regent Cynthia Davis, the organization and other groups helped clean the cemetery, but it hasn’t been cleaned in five years and unfortunately, Ron recently passed away. Davis said she and her organization met with his wife Nadja and discovered the cemetery was in terrible condition, but fate was on their side.

Davis said a DAR member’s husband is a Boy Scout leader and he suggested one of the boys in his Byron group help clean the cemetery for his Eagle Scout project. She added that they were only going to clean the front area of the cemetery since it is a big area.

Since the cemetery is hidden, the improvements made on the cemetery were placing logs where people can park, to avoid parking on graves. Davis said her group cleaned the tombstones and picked up tree limbs and leaves as well.

According to Davis, the Boy Scout group suggested another member to do the project next year to continue cleaning up the area, acre by acre.

“That would give them something to continue to work on because that’s going to be upkeep for years. I mean, I’m hoping that it won’t be just one Eagle Scout project but that they will continue to come out there and help take care of it,” said Davis.

According to Davis, one of the DAR’s missions is historical preservation and maintaining historical areas like the cemetery.

“That’s a historical area to our community, as many old churches they come and go, but there are some pertinent people there from our community,” said Davis.

The Eagle Scout projected benefited both groups as well as the Bohnstedts, as they’re able to keep their cemetery research and cleanups moving forward.

“With DAR, I feel like it’s so important to have partnerships with people in the community because you get more help; you get more accomplished. So the fact that it helped him out to get his Eagle Scout project done, it helps us out, because we are working through what we feel is part of our responsibility as members of an organization that promote historical preservation, patriotism and education,” said Davis.

Davis said that if anyone is interested in participating in the caretaking of Shiloh Cemetery to contact (478) 550-0918.

To find out more information about the cemetery, visit www.shilohcemetery.info.

HHJ News