Thanks for cemetery flowers
I had a very pleasant surprise March 8. As I rode by the Ebenezer Church Burial Ground at Thomas Crossroads and looked that way, as I always do, something caught my eye. I had to turn around and investigate. Someone had placed a wreath and flowers in this historic cemetery.The site is the final resting place of local pioneers. Revolutionary War soldier John Neely, the first Senator from Coweta County, Joseph Shaw, and many others, mostly unmarked, are buried there. The cemetery dates to the early 1830s.
My wife, Lorenda, and I both like old cemeteries. We have dragged our children, Jason, Jacob and Abraham, to burial grounds all over. Sometimes looking for ancestors, other times reclaiming the area. My mother once said I spend more time in cemeteries than the people who live there.
Some years ago the Ebenezer Church Burial Ground was quite overgrown again. I had the bright idea that my family and I would reclaim it. Didn’t take long for me to realize it was more than we could handle. I contacted Winston Skinner and with some publicity from The Newnan Times-Herald about 30 people showed up over a few weekends. The place looked great. Next was keeping it that way.
Today the cemetery continues to look good. I consider it our duty, not to mention an honor and a privilege, to maintain the final resting place of those who paved the way for the freedoms we enjoy today.
And a special thank you to the person who placed the flowers. I don’t know when they were put there even though I go through there twice a day.
But I do know this was a great gift to me and the community.
You definitely made my day.
John C. Todd
