HARRISBURG, Pa. — While many people will spend the holiday weekend taking a break, cooking out, or traveling, one nonprofit group is spending it restoring and uncovering headstones in the Lincoln Cemetery located in Harrisburg.
This effort to restore headstones has been ongoing since June of 2021, but the founder of Saving Our Ancestor’s Legacy(SOAL), Rachel Williams says it’s about keeping the stories of ancestors alive.
“These ancestors lived out life like they lived and fought and died so that we would be free,” said Williams. She added, “Their names are recorded on headstones so that they would never be forgotten so that they are history would be remembered and yet we forgotten.”
The restoration includes uncovering headstones, cleaning them, re-setting them, and making sure they last for several years to come. Some volunteers who joined Williams today were local but Williams has a much longer commute. While the nonprofit is based in Pennsylvania, Williams commutes from Buffalo, NY twice a month to continue this initiative.
“So many people don't realize that they have Connections here and it's not just in Harrisburg. It goes all over the world We have visitors that come from Australia and Africa and England like people from here went everywhere and built the foundations so That's why I come back because it's our responsibility to honor them,” said Williams.
Recently, Williams said they uncovered the headstones of 80 Civil War Veterans in the Lincoln Cemetery. Although Lincoln Cemetery lists 4,400 African-American interments, Williams said she believes there are 10,000.
“Our earliest headstone that we found so far is 1812, but there were older black cemeteries. They were moved here. So, you know, there's burials that go back to the 1700s that are here. We just don't have a stone for them yet,” said Williams.
Williams's nephew, son, and step-daughter have also played an integral role in the restoration by coming along with her and training volunteers how to properly recover a headstone without doing more damage. Bhatki Williams-Brown, Williams’s nephew said that every time he comes to the cemetery, he learns something new.
SOAL meets every third weekend of the month and is out at Lincoln Cemetery from noon to dusk. Williams said they’re always looking for volunteers and can donate to provide supplies like shovels, sand, cleaning tools, and more.
Download the FOX43 app here.