Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Volentine-Sibley Cemetery - ABANDONED NEGLECTED - East Baton Rouge Parish - Central, LA

Nick Foley authored an abandoned cemetery report from East Baton Rouge Parish where David Cain had found an private abandoned cemetery Central, LA. His article appears WAFB June 9, 2014 about an abandoned neglected historical cemetery on North Flannery Road near Sugar Land Park in the northern part of East Baton Rouge Parish. Central, LA. I do not know the cemetery name and therefore, without specific mapping information, property ownership, I cannot verify if the cemetery is listed with USGS in EBR Parish. View the video here: http://www.wafb.com/story/25725460/abandoned-and-neglected-cemeteries-generate-concern Has this cemetery been documented by the State of Louisiana abandoned / neglected cemeteries? archaeology@crt.la.gov http://www.crt.state.la.us/cultural-development/archaeology/cemeteries-burials/index It was said that the last burial was in the 1970's but there are very early 1800's headstones at this cemetery gathering from the video footage. If anything is done, headstone photographs should be taken before they are lost and destroyed. Who is the landowner? Is it possible that the landowner does not know the cemetery exists at all? Maybe someone from the City, Parish, or State archaeology department can contact the landowner, local library, historical/ genealogical society for background information on the cemetery and future plans on upkeep. It is important to get photographs of each individual headstone and make note of depressions. From the video by Byron Thomas the surnames appear: GARRISON, SIBLEY, YOUNG, LONG
Photographs of headstones, Cemetery Signage, Fencing, Maintenance, Headstone documentation, transcriptions, plot map, landowner history, genealogy are a part of local Louisiana history and are disappearing. Many thanks to Nick Foley and Mr. Cain for bringing awareness about this cemetery. You can view location and earlier photographs of a few cemetery headstones at Volentine - Sibley cemetery in East Baton Rouge Parish here .