I've just become a photo volunteer this summer (July 2014) but I've been using Find-A-Grave as part of my genealogy research for years. I figured it's time to "give back".

I live in Keyport, NJ, very close to Green Grove Cemetery and Cedarwood Cemetery**. Many other cemeteries are nearby, large and small, as well as many historical sites from the Revolutionary War period. If you'd like to explore any of these sites, but are reluctant to go alone or are unfamiliar with the area, let me know. Maybe we can explore together!

I'm also willing to do a "grave rubbing" for those really old stones that don't photograph well.

My pet project is finding and photographing neglected military graves. My husband is a Marine, my Dad was in the AAC in WWII, and all my uncles were in various branches of the Service, too, so I have a soft spot for military memorials. So many of the gravestones are flat, as opposed to the upright type, and it breaks my heart to see those graves become worn, broken and overgrown by ground coverings. The cemeteries are nicely maintained, the lawns are cut, but the stones do slowly sink and disappear as grass thickens and spreads at the ground-level. Unless they are individually maintained by cutting away the clots of overgrown earth and grass, they will disappear over time. I find that unacceptable! So when I'm taking pictures, I also do some groundskeeping, but I can't do it all on my own. There's just too many. By photographing these markers, and advising the local VFW/American Legion of their locations, we can, at the very least, have these veterans' graves maintained and acknowledged with flags on Memorial Day, Veterans' Day, etc. I'm also trying to create memorials for them on www.Fold3.com , but that is a tough hill to climb. For now, I'm happy to "save" them here on FAG.

I'd like to thank the people who helped me when I made my beginner, rookie mistake of duplications. There are 2 cemeteries that share a property line but are not clearly divided. I THOUGHT the pics I was taking were from the older location, but I'd unknowingly crossed the property line onto the newer cemetery. Then I put pics from the new cemetery onto the page for the old cemetery. I didn't realize my mistake until other members notified me of it. The irony is that not only have I lived blocks from these cemeteries all my life..over 50 years...but I've been in them many, many times for funerals, grave visits and quiet walks. AND I spent 25 years as the local Registrar of vital statistics, issuing hundreds of burial permits for these very cemeteries! LOL! Like I said...FAG rookie mistake.

**I'm pretty sure that a lot of the military graves I posted to the old cemetery actually belong to the new one. I promise, I'll fix any mistakes as I learn of them! Please let me know if you see any errors.

I've just become a photo volunteer this summer (July 2014) but I've been using Find-A-Grave as part of my genealogy research for years. I figured it's time to "give back".

I live in Keyport, NJ, very close to Green Grove Cemetery and Cedarwood Cemetery**. Many other cemeteries are nearby, large and small, as well as many historical sites from the Revolutionary War period. If you'd like to explore any of these sites, but are reluctant to go alone or are unfamiliar with the area, let me know. Maybe we can explore together!

I'm also willing to do a "grave rubbing" for those really old stones that don't photograph well.

My pet project is finding and photographing neglected military graves. My husband is a Marine, my Dad was in the AAC in WWII, and all my uncles were in various branches of the Service, too, so I have a soft spot for military memorials. So many of the gravestones are flat, as opposed to the upright type, and it breaks my heart to see those graves become worn, broken and overgrown by ground coverings. The cemeteries are nicely maintained, the lawns are cut, but the stones do slowly sink and disappear as grass thickens and spreads at the ground-level. Unless they are individually maintained by cutting away the clots of overgrown earth and grass, they will disappear over time. I find that unacceptable! So when I'm taking pictures, I also do some groundskeeping, but I can't do it all on my own. There's just too many. By photographing these markers, and advising the local VFW/American Legion of their locations, we can, at the very least, have these veterans' graves maintained and acknowledged with flags on Memorial Day, Veterans' Day, etc. I'm also trying to create memorials for them on www.Fold3.com , but that is a tough hill to climb. For now, I'm happy to "save" them here on FAG.

I'd like to thank the people who helped me when I made my beginner, rookie mistake of duplications. There are 2 cemeteries that share a property line but are not clearly divided. I THOUGHT the pics I was taking were from the older location, but I'd unknowingly crossed the property line onto the newer cemetery. Then I put pics from the new cemetery onto the page for the old cemetery. I didn't realize my mistake until other members notified me of it. The irony is that not only have I lived blocks from these cemeteries all my life..over 50 years...but I've been in them many, many times for funerals, grave visits and quiet walks. AND I spent 25 years as the local Registrar of vital statistics, issuing hundreds of burial permits for these very cemeteries! LOL! Like I said...FAG rookie mistake.

**I'm pretty sure that a lot of the military graves I posted to the old cemetery actually belong to the new one. I promise, I'll fix any mistakes as I learn of them! Please let me know if you see any errors.