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BY CARRIE MADREN
UMConnection Correspondent

Wielding machetes, chain saws and long-handled clippers, United Methodist Men waded through tangles of vines and vegetation on a sunny Saturday morning. The morning's goal was to clear out a small part of the wild, weedy forest that covers much of Mount Auburn Cemetery in south Baltimore.

The 140-year-old cemetery, the oldest African-American cemetery in Baltimore City, belongs to Sharp Street Memorial UMC. It was once known as the City of the Dead for Colored People. Dozens of history-making African Americans rest at Mount Auburn, including Joseph Gans, the first African-American lightweight boxing champion.

But without funding for grounds maintenance, the urban property became overgrown.

Rescuing the 34-acre cemetery from vegetation began in early May, and has continued every other Saturday since, explained Sherman Harris, who helps organize the Baltimore-Washington Conference's Methodist Men's cleanups that will pave the way for historic restoration.

The restoration efforts are part of a larger conference Hope for the City initiative.

To help Sharp Street Memorial fight the foliage, men from Smith Chapel UMC brought in tools, weed-tackling expertise and a wood chipper borrowed from one member's landscaping company.

Kevin Benjamin from Smith Chapel hacked through a clump of seemingly impenetrable vines and brush with a machete to expose a long-hidden headstone that read John T. Smith, Born July 15, 1835; Died Mar 21, 1917; Asleep in Jesus.

"Land must be cleared by hand, so as not to disturb or damage burial sites," explained the Rev. Dellyne Hinton, Sharp Street pastor.

Acres near the cemetery's entrance have been cleared and mowed, exposing hundreds of headstones, surrounded by grass. It's what they hope to have the rest of the cemetery looking like in about five years.

Hinton and others working to preserve the site have tried other ways of taming the wild weeds. They've considered chemical herbicides, controlled burns and even goats, who might chow down on the flora, but each of these solutions has been ruled out.

The weedy problem began decades ago, mostly because of lack of funds.

"When the cemetery was established, it was a ministry, never for profit," Hinton said. So perpetual care wasn't a part of the plan. It became hard to find money to pay groundskeepers to keep the weed jungle at bay.

Now, Hinton and the church, along with others connected to the community project, have a plan that's bigger than simply cutting away the weeds.

The church is developing a maintenance plan, and Tegeler Monuments is creating a strategy to restore and preserve the cemetery, including restoring headstones that have shifted or toppled, and leveled the ground, which has grown lumpy from years of neglect.

Morgan State University will do global positioning (GPS) scanning to determine if human remains are still aligned with their headstones. Plans also call for a columbarium to hold cremated remains, and developing a means for income to keep the cemetery preserved and maintained, Hinton said.

In the future, after the weed forest is cleared and grave sites are preserved, Hinton said, they'll create a visitor's center to help draw in tourists to learn about African- American and Baltimore history.

New life for an old cemetery.