MACON, Ga. — The historic Rose Hill Cemetery sits on 50 acres next to the river in Macon. Plenty of criminals have made off with priceless sculptures and other artifacts over the years.
But ghosts of the past might have a new digital ally to help protect one of Macon's gems.
Greg Calhoun and his wife came down from Atlanta to visit Rose Hill; a place where the Allman Brothers felt a deep connection when they lived in Macon.
"We noticed some damage and some things broken, but these things are over 100-years-old, so we just expected it was weather and not vandals," said Calhoun.
Joey Fernandez is the head of the Rose Hill preservation group. He says for decades bad guys have come in and done everything from stealing parts off angels to altering the landscape.
"I've removed a lot of spray paint over this entire monument," he said about the Bond monument where the Allman Brothers shot an album cover.
Because of the Allman Brothers connection, the Bond monument is the one defaced the most.
Now, folks that pass through daytime or late at night will not go unnoticed.
"It will also have a radar on it so it will alert the camera to zoom in on that person here at Rose Hill Cemetery at night," he explained.
Fernandez says he has raised $8,000 out of the $13,000 he needs to mount a forensic camera at the cemetery gate. He thinks he can get the first one up by July and eventually he wants to focus on mounting two more.
"If there was a camera here on the Bond monument, you're not going to toss off two stones like this because you and your friend are going to be caught and you're going to be forensically photographed," he said.
Anything over $500 in damage is a felony in Georgia. Fernandez says he can work to right the wrongs of the past, but technology may deter graffiti artists and thieves in the future.
"There are a lot of cemeteries that have been vandalized, but not as long as Rose Hill has been vandalized," he estimated.
Fernandez also just received the city's Preservation Champion award, which recognizes someone who goes above and beyond to make Macon's landscape better.