Nick Walters turned away a handful of opportunities this spring to give tours focused on the politicians buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson.
With grass that stands three- to four-feet tall in some places, the cemetery’s lack of maintenance means it’s not feasible to lead groups of people through the cemetery plus it’s tough to see some of the small monuments because they are covered by weeds.
“I’ve canceled several tours until we know we can walk through there without a machete,” said Walters, an adjunct history professor at Mississippi College.
The city of Jackson owns the 22-acre cemetery, which is located at North West Street at George Street, and is responsible for providing basic upkeep. That’s been lacking this year, despite a formal agreement with the Greenwood Cemetery Association.
That should soon change.
The City Council during its July16 meeting authorized the mayor to execute a contract with PDT Logistics, LLC for mowing and grounds maintenance within the five cemeteries the city owns. In addition to Greenwood Cemetery, the city also owns Cedar Lawn, Willow Park, Elmwood and Lincoln.
The contract calls for paying PDT Logistics $33,360 per month, including a prorated portion of the month of July and for a period extending through Sept. 30. PDT Logistics cut the grass at Cedar Lawn Cemetery, which is located in West Jackson, for free earlier this year.
The contract specifies grass mowing and trimming, shrub and bush trimming, tree pruning and litter and debris removal. The work is to be done between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. unless otherwise specified or approved by the city due to uncontrollable weather situations. The contractor is to provide weekly reports detailing the number of laborers employed in the work, the hours worked and a description of the work completed, including any issues or concerns that need to be addressed.
Virgi Lindsay, who represents Ward 7 and serves as council president, voted in favor of the maintenance contract for the cemeteries and another contract to hire a business to cut the grass on the city’s rights-of-ways. The council agreed to both contracts after much discussion.
Ashby Foote, who represents Ward 1, voted against the contract for the cemeteries because he believes bids should have been taken. He also voted against authorizing the mayor to execute a contract with Redmond Lawn and Cleaning Service, LLC to mow the grass, trim weeds and pick up trash on rights-of-ways; that contract is for $45,000 a month, including a prorated portion of the month of July and for a period extending through Sept. 30.
“I realize this stuff needs to get done,” he said “They (the city administration) drag their feet until it’s a hostage situation and they get the contractor they want.”
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told the council the contracts were for short terms and sorely needed. The city plans to issue a request for proposals for long-term contracts for mowing, just as many cities in the metro area do, he said.
State law does not require getting bids for a contract that is for less than $75,000 and for professional services, he said.
In 2020, the Greenwood Cemetery Association signed a memorandum of understanding with the mayor that the city of Jackson Parks and Recreation Department would maintain the cemetery. The association even stepped up to make sure grass cutting would be a little bit easier by donating $3,359 to fund the purchase of a lawnmower that could cut grass in tight spaces.
Last year, the responsibility for the upkeep of the cemeteries was transferred to the solid waste division because it, unlike the parks and recreation department, has mowers and other equipment to cut grass.
When that action was taken, the solid waste division did not receive additional funding, employees or equipment to maintain the cemeteries, Lumumba said.
Lakesha Weathers, solid waste manager, told the council she has eight employees and three of those are assigned to maintain the cemeteries, but that is not enough to maintain the acreage.
Cedar Lawn Cemetery is 86 acres; Elmwood, 6.3 acres; Greenwood, 22 acres; Lincoln, 2 acres; and Willow Park, 7 acres.
Cecile Wardlaw, executive director of the Greenwood Cemetery Association, said the city has partially mowed the cemetery one time this year.
In other years, the city has tried to mow before Easter because many people visit then, but that did not happen this year, she said. Instead, the city mowed the cemetery for the first time around May 1.
Wardlaw has seen for herself that the city lacks equipment needed to keep the grass cut and trimmed.
A lot of the work has to be done with weed eaters and the city did not have enough of those for the workers to use, judging from one occasion earlier this month. Seven employees showed up at the cemetery to work but they brought just two weed eaters to use, she said.
Wardlaw said it is a relief to know there is a maintenance contract in place for the cemetery. She plans to call PDT Logistics, LLC, converse about the upkeep of the cemetery and be on site the first day its employees do work there.
“The contract calls for pruning and I don’t want that,” said Wardlaw, who wants to make sure the roses and other flowers that volunteers have planted through the years do not get cut down.
When the city delayed mowing earlier this year, wildflowers not seen before in the cemetery popped up. “Felder Rushing (a horticulturist) said he could identify 100 different varieties,” she said.
Jim Rosenblatt, dean emeritus at the Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, recently pruned the boxwoods in the cemetery, she said. Rosenblatt serves as the president of the association.
Jason Harpe, director of cemetery conservation for Richard Grubb and Associates, a full-service cultural resource management firm that is headquartered in Cranbury, N.J., said maintenance is a big issue when it comes to cemeteries because many people have different ideas about how manicured a cemetery should be, plus mowers and trimmers can easily damage grave markers.
“There has to be planning involved,” he said, suggesting that a maintenance plan be created that takes into account areas where grass grows the fastest and mowing is most needed and areas where there is shade and the grass doesn’t grow as quickly.
Harpe, who was at Greenwood Cemetery earlier this year working to repair broken monuments at the association’s invitation, said he was pleasantly surprised to see that it draws numerous visitors. “A lot of people want to see where Eudora Welty is buried,” he said. “One lady came to the cemetery after she listened to Felder Rushing’s radio program and he talked about the flowers in the cemetery.”
With an entrance that is in sight of the state Capitol, Greenwood Cemetery was the main cemetery for the city of Jackson during its first 50 years of existence. The Legislature authorized it on Jan. 1, 1823.
The cemetery is the final resting place of former governors of Mississippi, public officials, mayors of Jackson, teachers, Confederate soldiers and, as Harpe mentioned, the beloved writer.
“A lot of people will visit the Welty House and want to see Miss Welty’s grave,” Wardlaw said. “Fortunately, her grave is in deep shade, so the grass doesn’t grow so much around it.”
Wardlaw said she is grateful city leaders have taken a look at how the cemetery can be maintained because the association does not have the funding to take that task on.
The nonprofit cemetery association exists to solicit and raise funds from individuals and private sources and apply for grants to improve, repair and maintain the cemetery, enhance the cemetery with hands-on projects and increase the public’s knowledge about the cemetery.
The association has received grants to support the association’s program to nurture, protect and prune trees in the cemetery and repair and upgrade infrastructure in the cemetery. The association has also renovated the Summer House, a wooden structure that dates to 1878 in the cemetery and taken care to get broken monuments repaired.
The Find A Grave website lists 6,000 total entries for the cemetery with about 600 of them African Americans. Of the 600 African Americans buried there, 100 of them have monuments, Wardlaw said.
The cemetery holds many stories, Walters said, as it is the final resting place of eight Mississippi governors, the most recent being William Winter. There are numerous officeholders elected to positions in Congress as well as state and local government and others noted for their accomplishments as teachers and business leaders, he said.
The cemetery also includes at least 2,500 unmarked graves and 3,500 monuments.
An obelisk commemorating James D. Lynch, the first African American state official (secretary of state) in Mississippi, overlooks the grave of Confederal General William Barksdale, who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, Walters said. The obelisk is interesting to see because it shows the face of Lynch, he said.
More than 100 unknown Confederate soldiers are also buried at Greenwood Cemetery. The Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Daughters of the Confederacy hold an annual Confederate Memorial Day observance on the last Sunday in April at the cemetery, Wardlaw said.
Wardlaw remembers the cemetery when it was immaculately maintained. “It’s a gorgeous place,” she said, naming its stately trees, roses, camellias, iris and other blossoms.
When she was a child growing up in Jackson, Wardlaw’s mother drove through the cemetery once a week just to check to make sure things were right. Wardlaw’s three great-great grandparents, great-grandparents and several of their children, grandparents, parents, brother and husband are buried there.
“It’s 22 or 23 family members,” said Wardlaw, a gardener who maintains her family’s plot to ensure the flowers she planted continue to add their beauty.
Wardlaw recently ran across a banner once used to draw visitors to the cemetery by promoting it as the oldest landmark in Jackson.
When the cemetery looks groomed, she said she may just pull that banner out again and hang it on the fence that encloses the grounds. Walters most likely will begin leading the tours he enjoys giving, providing information about the politicians whose final resting place is Greenwood Cemetery.
