Booker T Washington Cemetery - Muskogee, OK
Posted by: 
Bon Echo
N 35° 47.022 W 095° 24.240
15S E 282722 N 3962624
A news story about a cemetery in decay and those working to fix it.
Waymark Code: WMXG3H
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 01/08/2018
Views: 2
When I visited this cemetery in May 2016, I was surprised by the number of damaged, toppled and overgrown headstones - at least in the north-west portion of the cemetery. Some stones were leaning against trees, some were knocked over by trees.
Apparently upkeep at this cemetery has been challenging - but some local residents have been determined to turn things around. in September 2015 an article was published in the local newspaper (the Muskogee Phoenix ) which described those effect of overgrowth and decay:
Cemetery cleanup uncovers forgotten graves
By Harrison Grimwood Phoenix Staff Writer Sep 13, 2015
In the article, the reader is told how the sole caretaker of the cemetery has worked over the past 17 years to keep the cemetery in order. Despite his efforts, many gravestones have fallen victim to the forces of nature. Vegetation was winning the battle in some section of the cemetery, in some cases toppling gravestones, and in other cases obscuring them altogether. The article also described the determination of some volunteers to beat back some of the vegetation and to uncover some of the "lost" graves.
To be fair, my comments above were largely based on what I saw in one section of the cemetery, and don't reflect what I saw throughout most of the cemetery - which was well kept as shown below.
