HILLSDALE, Mo. — Cleanup continues at the historic Greenwood Cemetery in north St. Louis County after last July's rains washed away roads.
The flooding once again delayed conservation efforts that have been dragging on for years.
Since its first burial in 1874, more than 50,000 souls were laid to rest at Greenwood Cemetery, including some of St. Louis' most notable historic figures.
"Grant Green, a jazz guitarist,” said volunteer Grace Driver.
"Harriet Robinson Scott, the wife of Dred Scott,” said Raphael Morris, President of Greenwood Cemetery.
"Lucy Delaney, a slave activist is buried here as well,” Driver said.
Despite being on the National Register of Historic Places, Greenwood fell into disrepair after the final burial in 1993.
"You find yourself asking why,” Morris said.
For the last 8 years, Raphael Morris has made it his mission to clean up Greenwood.
"The section we're in now probably hadn't seen any maintenance for 30 years or so,” Morris said. “It was just a jungle when we got in here."
However, he admits tackling the 32-acre property in North St. Louis County hasn't been easy as he battles dumping, vandalism, and most recently historic flooding.
"We had ruts in there about two feet deep and two feet wide,” Morris said.
With the help of volunteers like Grace Driver from AmeriCorps they're continuing their trek through the property.
"Each gravestone we uncover, that's another piece of history,” Driver said.
"To look at what they've accomplished in five weeks’ time, I wouldn't be able to do this in an entire summer,” Morris said. "You're going to be in awe of what's been accomplished out here."
With just 7 acres left to go, Morris is hoping to find the roughly 10,000 graves that have gone missing in the coming month.
"I've still got another set of great-grandparents buried somewhere out here, so it's important to me to find my loved ones,” Morris said.
The AmeriCorps crew will be wrapping up their work the first week of April, but Davis says that's when the job shifts to maintenance and volunteers are needed.