One of the most disheartening cemeteries I have ever had the displeasure of seeing.  We recently adopted Mt. Arrarat Cemetery to restore the broken and open sites.  This is literally a decade long project.  We seem to face uphill mountainous climbs at every turn with this one.

Many of the local youth use this site as a Motel 6, no offense to the Motel chain. Transients use it for a home.  There are serious encroachment issues as well as drainage and errosion problems.  Most of the sites have been vandalized, stolen war medals, gold teeth, even to the point of stolen or missing body parts and until very recently, no one was taking us seriously that all of these problems ARE going to STOP.

The only one who cares, besides our members, is the last of two remaining stockholders, Rev. Gussie Sampson, and 88 year old woman who was glad we stepped forward to help.

The oldest known marker is from 1889 and is made of wood.  As far as we know, it is one of only three wooden headstones in Volusia County.  There are hundreds of Veterans, fallen Police Officers and Firefigthers and even a Michigan All State Football Champion.

The current Mayor of Daytona's (2004) own family members are interred in theis site and she has no interest in assisting in any way.  The Daytona Beach Police Department has been helpful in making arrestes of trespassers at this site as well as making nightly patrols.  The current Volusia County Councilman (at large-2004) Frank Bruno has assisted by getting grant money for yard waste pick ups and was in the process of installing securtiy lighting until he was re-elected and now we've heard nothing further.  VFW Post 1590 has taken on the daunting task of setting flags at every Veterans marker on Memorial & Veterans Day...we thank all of these fine folks for thier assistance.

UPDATE!

Mayor Yvonne Scarlett-Golden passed away from colon cancer in January of 2007. While we send our deepest sympathies and condolences to her friends, family and loved ones, it's very ironic that she is now laid to rest in the pauper's cemetery that she refused to help while she was alive and in a position of power to do so much for this historic site and the black community.