Volunteers come together to honor Maryland Day with cemetery cleanup
BALTIMORE -- In celebration of Maryland Day, three history preservation organizations teamed up Monday in Annapolis to clean historic grave markers.
Maryland Day marks the day the first colonists landed on Maryland soil.
Volunteers at St. Anne's Cemetery joined for a day of service, gaining a hands-on lesson in Maryland history.
In the heart of Annapolis lies St. Anne's Cemetery, one of the state's oldest. Volunteers, including people from various backgrounds, came together to help clean and preserve the grave markers.
"Every place you look, the history is written right here," Ginger DeLuca, Co-chair of St. Anne's Cemetery Committee, said. Nicholas Redding, President and CEO of Preservation Maryland, said. "This is where many of Annapolis's earlier generations are buried. Those stories are still here, and they're in this place."
The day allowed participants to connect physically and emotionally with Maryland's past.
"You get to touch history and that's really cool. Just looking at the gravestones themselves are a piece of material culture and history anyway, so that's really cool," Tyler Osborne, a Baltimore City resident, said.
Karen Brown, President and CEO of Historic Annapolis, says preserving history is something that benefits everyone. "There is a continuity of history here, and it shows that history and preservation can speak to anyone," Brown said.
The event not only paid homage to the past but also inspired thoughts about the future.