Cemetery Caretakers Clash Over Clean Up
Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- The peace and quiet of Mount Ararat Cemetery was disturbed Monday.
A small feud erupted at the graveyard over who has been doing the most work to clean up one of the oldest local final resting places for black families.
At odds were longtime caretaker Dusty Smith, whose nonprofit group International Association of Cemetery Preservationists has been coming to the 6-acre site off Bellevue Avenue for five years to spruce the place up, and Leroy Edwards, the son of one of the cemetery's stockholders.
For the last six weeks, the 73-year-old Edwards has been clearing away the gnarled vines, tall weeds and prickly pears that attach themselves with a vengeance to the shoes of anyone who walks through the graveyard.
But Smith, along with several volunteers and members of her group, also monthly have repaired crumbling headstones and vaults and cut away the dried, brown grass that has overcome so many of Mount Ararat's markers.
Although of like mind on what should be done at Mount Ararat, Smith and Edwards nonetheless clashed amid the ruins of the old cemetery.
It was a strange irony since for years, according to Smith, no one cared how dismal Mount Ararat looked.
"The place is starting to look good," Smith said to Edwards as he leaned against the tailgate of his truck. "We came out here yesterday and did a lot of work."
That seemed to bother Edwards though. The septuagenarian did not like that a metal trash receptacle he says he paid for and placed at the cemetery several weeks ago was filled Monday. He was also perturbed with debris placed next to the huge bin. He also took issue with Smith's accounts of how much money she and her group have shelled out to beautify Mount Ararat.
"Do you see that out here (the money spent) when you look around?" Edwards asked after Smith walked away from him. "This place doesn't look good -- yet."
Initially, When Smith, 46, saw Edwards drive up in his little red pickup just after 2:30 p.m., she was encouraged because he is the son of Gussie Sampson, the 93-year-old stockholder with whom Smith has dealt for years regarding the cemetery's upkeep. The two had never met before Monday.
Mount Ararat is almost 100 years old, Sampson said in 2007. With record-keeping shaky through the years, though, the earliest known entry is from 1908. Family members of the deceased were charged with keeping up the grounds, but that fell by the wayside and the graveyard became a jumble of weeds and toppled or cracked headstones.
The cemetery -- which Smith says should be placed on the National Register of Historic Places -- is the burial place of many of the area's oldest black families, including the late Yvonne Scarlett-Golden, a Daytona Beach mayor.
Edwards said Monday that blacks had no choice but to be buried at Mount Ararat because the long arm of segregation extended to cemeteries.
Over the last two years, however, it has attracted attention not because of its rich history, but because human remains either protruded from the ground, or were dumped above ground several feet from gravesites.
As she readied to leave Mount Ararat on Monday afternoon, a frustrated Smith said she would telephone Sampson and ask whether she still wants her to care for the old cemetery: "If she wants to let her son do it that's fine with me."
lyda.longa@news-jrnl.com
Back Talk Comments from Readers:
Earth - 1/20/2009 10:24:00 AM
What a shame! Dusty's group has worked so hard on restoring and beautifying cemeteries such as this one. From what I understand, there are also student volunteers doing community service in them as well. Edwards should be thanking her.
Cat Girl - Daytona Beach - 1/20/2009 2:31:00 PM
Mr Edwards, be grateful some one cares... I know for a fact Ms. Smith works very hard day and night on these cemetery's! Sometimes she is alone soemtimes with help. BE GRATEFULL!!! Some one Cares!!!!
moorfam - Port Orange - 1/20/2009 11:43:00 PM
Why is that Dusty? The guy that raised such a stink doesn't own that cemetary. Why do you feel like you have to let him take it over? I have a friend buried there and I used to think how awful that cemetary was. I wrote to the appropriate sources about the care and upkeep. Never heard a word from them. Thank you for caring and trying to make it a nicer place. I wish we could clone you.
JayRock - Daytona Beach - 1/21/2009 2:24:00 PM
Ms. Smith and her group has helped so many resting places in Florida. She only takes over places that everybody else gives up on or forgets. Too bad she is treated this way.
