Bright blue skies brought together The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), Pass Road Elementary School, and The Historical Society of Gulfport to restore cemetery markers and preserve the historic Old Mississippi City Cemetery in Gulfport, Miss.
The groups worked in teams where USM students helped educate and lead proper gravesite cleaning processes. Pass Elementary students chose which headstones to clean, along with a history lesson on the uniqueness of the site. Students learned about identifying grave materials such as granite, marble, limestone, concrete, and wood. Tips on identifying iconography were held along with clearing debris from Hurricane Francine. Dr. Marie Danforth, USM Professor of Anthropology, expressed the success of the cleanup and collaboration.
“This is such a great opportunity for our students to work with the community and be able to share so much of what they have been learning in the classroom. Cemeteries are especially valuable settings for this, and we have worked with several cemeteries in Hattiesburg and the surrounding area over the years, most recently helping to find buried headstones at the cemetery at the Ellisville State School earlier this year,” said Danforth…