I am often intrigued by the differences between well maintained cemeteries and those that have fallen into disrepair. What factors contribute to one cemetery being neatly maintained versus another, in essentially the same location, being allowed to become over grown and strewn with litter?
While visiting Chinese Cemetery and Live Oak Cemetery in Greenville, MS I found these two adjacent cemeteries portrayed very different levels of maintenance. Both cemeteries where gated and fenced although Live Oak Cemetery had an open design that allowed for visitors 24 hours per day while the Chinese Cemetery’s gates were locked after official visiting hours and did not allow for visitors during the nighttime hours.
Chinese Cemetery displayed a distinct ethnic pride and all persons interred within the cemetery were of apparently similar ethnic heritage. Live Oak Cemetery did not appear to have a cultural reference other than to reflect the community, at large, surrounding it. While the community appeared to be socioeconomically depressed I do not find in my cemetery research, that socioeconomic status, by itself, directly correlates to the general upkeep of a cemetery. I have visited many well-kept cemeteries in many depressed neighborhoods.
Above and beyond willingness and ability to pay money to have entire cemeteries and individual gravesites maintained, community pride seems to be an important factor in general upkeep of a community cemetery as does a core group of concerned citizens who take it upon themselves to instill community pride in a well-kept cemetery. If I were to hypothisise, I would suppose that Chinese Cemetery is cared for by a close-knit community of friends and family members who have a continuing desire to honor the interred.
Conversely, Live Oak Cemetery might have recently lost their core group of close-knit members of the community who, in years past, took great pride in properly maintaining their family’s plots. Without an emphasis for the need of community involvement, a cemetery such as Live Oak Cemetery can quickly become overgrown and derelict.
With a small amount of community involvement, Live Oak Cemetery can quickly be turned around and become as well cared for as Chinese Cemetery in Greenville, Mississippi.
Nearby: Tamale Shop
Actually, the two Chinese Cemeteries in Greenville were established and managed by a non-profit organization called the Greenville Chinese Cemetery Association. Most of the Delta Chinese community no longer lives in Mississippi, and they only return to the cemetery for funerals or for the Delta Chinese reunions which take place every few years. New burials are still quite common in the New Chinese Cemetery, as photographed in this article, though the Old Chinese Cemetery has an official Mississippi historical marker and is maintained as a historic site.
Last I heard, Kathy Wong was managing the Cemetery Association, and she is always struggling to raise donations from her scattered community just to hire the workers that mow the lawn. When I last spoke to her, Kathy Wong said that there had been vandalism in the cemetery. The side gates are secured by chains, but no locks, so it’s pretty easy for vandals to sneak in at night. Of course, the gates to Live Oak don’t even close, so anyone can just walk in.
Bear in mind that the New Chinese Cemetery is newer than Live Oak, and most of the tombs were built within the past fifty years. You can actually see the old tombs in the back of the New Chinese Cemetery, which were moved from the Old Chinese Cemetery. These old tombs are not in the best shape, and in fact, the tombs that were not moved and left behind in the Old Cemetery are often cracked, damaged by weathering, and the inscriptions are faded, which is probably why the Cemetery Association decided not to move them.
Also, the two Chinese Cemeteries combined are a fraction of the size of the much larger Live Oak Cemetery next door. In most cemeteries, the tombs are owned and maintained by individual families. The only reason the Cemetery Association is able to care for individual tombs in the two Chinese cemeteries is because both cemeteries are so small.
Quite frankly, my impression is that Live Oak is in fairly good shape for a cemetery of its age and size. You should see Holt Cemetery in New Orleans to see what a large poorly-maintained historic cemetery looks like…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vt03Fi4kXs
Winston Ho 何嶸.
University of New Orleans,
Department of History 紐奧良大學歷史學系.