DSC_0631TGS students began an interesting service project in June: helping Patti Burns conduct a survey of all the graves in Prince George Cemetery. The work will be part of a large, ongoing project sponsored by Georgetown County Library to put a photograph and transcription of every grave marker in the county on line for historians, genealogists and families to use.

The students record data about the shape of the marker, its style and its current condition.  Then they write down its inscription. Many of the grave inscriptions in Prince George Cemetery are quite worn down (some date from the 1700s), so Patti taught everyone to use thin tin foil to make a rubbing to make them stand out and become more legible.

Here is an example of an inscription about a mother from the 1800s: “Truly did she possess that Christian charity which suffereth long and is kind, for being left a widow under very trying circumstances she not only maintained her four children, but her house was ever the home of the friendless and orphan, for she stretched out her hand to the poor, yea, she reached forth her hand to the needy. Ever will her children rise up and call her blessed.”