Cemeteries serve as both a final resting place for our families and loved ones and a way to keep their memories alive. They give a glimpse of the past and serve as a reminder that even though those loved ones are no longer with us on Earth, they will always be kept alive in spirit with the fond memories of all the good times shared.
When Trevor Triplett, a Boy Scout in Troop 1280, was looking for an Eagle Scout project to complete, it didn’t take him long to know what he wanted to do to honor those who have passed and keep their memory alive. He had been working at the Braddock Cemetery in Graysville laying memorial flags since he was six years old, and his plan was to help renovate the cemetery and honor the several veterans whose bodies were buried there.
“Having worked at [Braddock Cemetery] since I was six years old, I wanted to base my project around the cemetery,” Trevor says. “The idea started with cleaning the headstones, because there were several that needed cleaning and restoration. When I went to the cemetery board to pitch my idea, they gave me the idea to do a map of the cemetery and that idea was added on to the project.”
In the end, Trevor’s project was a three-stage project to help renovate the cemetery: cleaning, mapping, and memorializing. In the first stage of the project, Triplett and several other younger scouts came together to clean some of the older headstones in the cemetery. Braddock Cemetery has stones that date all the way back to the Civil War era and Triplett’s goal was to clean them so that the names can be read, and the men and women could be honored. To complete the project, they used a D2 Biological Solution that got into the stone and helped clear the mud. While working on this step, the group discovered stones they didn’t expect to find of important people to the area.
“We cleaned an older section of the cemetery, and it took us around two to three hours,” Trevor says. “We ended up cleaning the stone of the founder of Graysville as well as the stones of several veterans from the Civil War and the Revolutionary war.”
Once the stones were cleaned, Triplett set out to map the cemetery. He used an older map for reference and worked off a general outline of the cemetery. They used a drone to help them get the general layout and then mapped the entire cemetery by rows and columns. Once the map was completed, a public map was hung for visitors to not only see who was buried there but be able to find their loved ones as well.
The final phase of the project was to lay a stone honoring the veterans buried there. In total, five veterans were laid to rest there with Thomas Vanatta (Civil War), Abner Braddock (Revolutionary War), Francis Braddock (Revolutionary War), William Fletcher (Civil War), and Noah Clutter (Civil War). “I’ve always been involved in history and every veteran deserves recognition,” Trevor says. “I just worked to give them what they are owed and to memorialize them.”
In total, the project took about eight months to complete from start to finish as Trevor was able to not only complete his Eagle Scout project but give back to a place that has given so much to him. “It’s hard to describe my emotions now that the project is done, it’s kind of a mix of relief and joy,” Trevor says. “I am very happy with how it turned out and I’m glad the younger Scouts got to come out and help. It is something I have been working on for a while and it is a relief to see it finished and ready for the community to use.”
Now that his project is completed, Triplett can look back and give advice to the next generation of Eagle Scouts. His best advice is to pick something you are passionate about because then it will be fun and won’t feel like work.
“The best type of Eagle Scout projects to do are the ones that mean something to you,” Trevor says. “Find something that you are passionate about or something that you enjoy, and you will remember it forever.”
