By SEAN HILDRETH, guest columnist

Historic preservation is far from exciting for most folks, but I want you to pause and consider just what it means to preserve history for Brown County.

From headstones to markers, each bit of history that is preserved is another part of Brown County’s future. We can celebrate a rich past and ensure legacies remain for our early settlers, artists and residents.

The first taste I had of the excitement of this work was in March. I accompanied a group of veterans and volunteers to Polley Hill cemetery, established in 1860. We were there to clean up the grounds a bit and install replacement headstones for several veterans. This work allows us to honor the legacy of those brave veterans and preserve the site for future generations to visit. Led by volunteers, this work is important and is full of passionate people that I hope will inspire you to join in the effort to preserve Brown County.

Attending the Brown County Cemetery Preservation meetings is a great place to start. This group meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m. at the Brown County Historical Society. This eclectic mix of people with one common interest, preserving the cemeteries of Brown County, meets to discuss work days, preservation techniques, research on markers and cemeteries, and so much more. After attending a few meetings recently, I wanted to recruit our board of trustees at the Brown County Community Foundation to get involved with a hands-on work day at Zion Church and Cemetery on Three Notch Road.

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On Sept. 12, we met at 8 a.m. to begin our day’s work of cleaning up the brush encroaching on the cemetery. This work isn’t glamorous. It is hard. There is poison ivy. There is sweat. Yet, there is satisfaction. There is accomplishment. There is pride.

We worked for almost four hours with chainsaws, tools and determination. At the end of our day, we left the place better than we found it: Cleared and hopefully more visible for those who come to visit and those who come to mourn.

In this very cemetery, I also made a personal discovery. Walking along, I saw a slight bare spot on the earth. With some gentle exploration, I realized it was a marker that was lost to time and the earth. Uncovering it was exciting and sad. I had found something lost to time, but it didn’t have to be this way. This marker was from 1867. Only the initials, JLM, remained with the year.

If more work was done consistently in our over 100 county cemeteries, markers like this wouldn’t be lost. They would be maintained and preserved for future generations.

With the help of volunteers, donations and support from endowments at the Brown County Community Foundation, this work will continue.

So, how can you help? Attend a meeting. Make a donation. Visit the cemeteries. Advocate for historical markers. Talk about it with your social circles. All these things help to keep our history alive for the future. Just do something, as with each year that passes, we lose a little bit more of our past to time.

Sean Hildreth is the marketing, communications and outreach officer for the Brown County Community Foundation Inc. He can be reached at 812-988-4882 or [email protected].

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Donations to the Howard Hughes Historic Preservation fund can be made by visiting browncountygives.org or by texting the code PRESERVE to 44-321.

This fund perpetually supports projects and programs that support preservation, restoration and promotion of Brown County’s history.

Priority may be given to Brown County cemetery projects.

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