MACON, Ga. — As Halloween draws near, there may be nothing fitter for the spooky season than a tour of a cemetery.
Poet Yolanda "Y-O" Latimore took interested guests through the Linwood Cemetery to share stories of the many people buried there.
The Linwood Cemetery, which was founded in 1894, is a burial site specifically for Black individuals, according to a press release.
The release notes that the cemetery has records of around 4,000 burials. The burials were marked by headstones, but sometimes by trees planted by families, caskets and various bodies beneath patches of green spaces.
Years ago, the Macon Cemetery Preservation Corporation, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving abandoned and neglected cemeteries in Bibb County, started a Historic Linwood Cemetery Endowment Fund under the Community Foundation of Central Georgia.
They've also created a Linwood Cemetery Preservation Plan to help maintain the cemetery's condition.
Latimore's tour was in hopes to continue to raise support, and potentially more funds, for the cemetery and tell the stories of the people buried there.
"Creating narratives and telling the stories of both well-known and everyday people buried in Historic Linwood Cemetery may seem like a small task in the preservation of this sacred land," Latimore said. "However, sharing the tales of our ancestors and loved ones holds immense power that can facilitate positive change."
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