LAUREL HILL — Saturday’s annual clean-up day at Almarante Cemetery is a time for multiple generations of the tight-knit community to come together, talk with each another and sense their ancestors' spirits.
The historic cemetery, where the oldest inhabitant was born in the 1700s, is a resting place to many Laurel Hill generations.
While many who will join friends, family members and neighbors Saturday have ancestors buried beneath Almarante’s oaks and magnolias, some join the effort simply out of community spirit.
Some of Okaloosa County’s earliest settlers reside at Almarante Cemetery. Among more than 2,000 grave markers are familiar family names including Campbell, Stokes, Rogers, Gaskin, Steele and Cadenhead.
Colorful “Uncle Bill” Lundy rests there; his military tombstone ignores contemporary questions about his actual Civil War service.
Documented warriors lie around him; simple flat or more traditional upright government-provided markers honor heroes from conflicts including the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korea Conflict and Vietnam War.
During Saturday’s clean-up, volunteers must bring their own tools and cleaning supplies, Almarante Cemetery Commission Chairman Tracy Curenton said.
Be prepared to rake leaves, right fallen grave markers, sweep memorial slabs and trim overgrowth, she said. Some volunteers also bring picnic lunches, she added.
WANT TO HELP?
WHAT: Annual Almarante Cemetery clean-up
WHEN: 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 4
WHERE: State Road 85 North, just south of Laurel Hill beneath the blue water tower
DETAILS: Tracy Curenton, cemetery commission chairman, 652-4162 or curentontracy@gmail.com. Volunteers should supply their own tools. Donations toward the cemetery's upkeep may be sent to the Almarante Cemetery Commission, P.O. Box 55, Laurel Hill FL 32567-0055.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Cemetery clean-up scheduled this weekend