This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Arts & Entertainment

Graveyard Project Keeps Elkridge History Alive

Stones in St. Augustine cemetery tell stories, according to two local ladies who are writing them down.

On a hilltop overlooking Old Washington Road, statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus stand guard over St. Augustine’s cemetery.

Many of the gravestones are dilapidated, disappearing … and once they’re gone, so is a pivotal piece of local history.

That’s why two Elkridge women, Michele Miller and Marsha “Marty” Byerly, started the Graveyard History Project nearly eight years ago, to catalog and restore the gravestones on the grounds of .

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Miller and Byerly record the names and dates on the stones, then match them with whatever antiquated records they can find.

The handwritten records are stored inside the church, which has been around since 1844. In the graveyard, one stone dates as far back as 1839.

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In addition to a love of Elkridge and history in general, Miller and Byerly share a personal claim to the cemetery. Byerly’s parents are buried there, as are Miller’s in-laws, who have been in the Elkridge community since the mid-1800s.

Miller, whose father asked her to take on the history project, thinks it is important because “Elkridge is one of the oldest communities in Howard County. At one time, the port of Elk Ridge Landing was larger than and more important than Baltimore,” said Miller. “Transcribing these stones and preserving the history of this area is important not just to Elkridge but to the history of the state of Maryland.”

And Miller doesn’t see the stones as mere slabs. “These are people … people who lived here and helped create this community. So I feel we have a responsibility to uncover who they were,” she explained.

Take, for example, the Mary Wingrove Bathon story. According to Miller, who researched the name stones of mother and son, Mary was pregnant on a train and gave birth to a baby who died. She buried her son in the Elkridge cemetery and wanted to be buried next to him. But the former city editor of The Washington Post is also named Wingrove Bathon and was somehow linked to this woman as well, either as her husband or surviving son. These are the details Miller and Byerly are trying to uncover.

Miller said there are so many people buried in the cemetery, especially the earlier ones, that the families just have no idea who they were or where they’re buried. She and Byerly catalog the names they find in a database so they can keep track.

Though only members of the church rest within its grounds, the graveyard includes restoration work that’s a handful for two working, middle-aged women. When stones fall facedown, they lift them back up. Especially the marble ones get beaten by the test of time, said Miller, who noted the granite stones hold up much better.

The two graveyard historians said they're always looking for people to help volunteer their time and efforts to the project. It’s all about honoring life, according to Miller, of the past and in the present.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?