Join Hands

ACPA County Representatives (“County Reps”) and Assistant County Reps are dedicated VOLUNTEERS, physically located in or near each of the 67 counties of Alabama. Because the ACPA County Representatives are volunteers, each approaches his/her position with their own personal experience and knowledge. The County Reps have access to information to help perform a variety of tasks, while observing the cemeteries within their county lines, in order to record their condition, confirm their locations, and provide current information on such issues as vandalism, theft, disputes questions, and cemeteries in peril of being forever damaged or lost. They are an important presence on the county level serving as the interface with: individuals; groups, churches and organizations; businesses; state, city and county officials; law enforcement; and media to promote and seek participation in the ACPA’s goals and mission.

ACPA County Reps have volunteered and worked in many ways to help preserve Alabama’s cemetery heritage. They have helped to coordinate a wide variety of cemetery projects such as: cemetery burial surveys; county cemetery mapping; registering cemeteries in the ACPA Cemetery Register; cemetery clean-ups; repairing storm damage: headstone repair demonstrations; building cemetery access roads; sponsoring lectures; workshops, and preservation demonstration in their counties. Some ACPA County Reps have helped organize cemetery Civil War and Revolutionary cemetery dedications with local historical and family groups: Some have met with local media and provided stories on surveying and cleaning up local cemeteries and cemetery restoration efforts; others have helped to organize and/or supervise cemetery clean-ups with local Scout Troops for badge credit; some ACPA County Reps have worked with companies and land contractors to work around existing pioneer cemeteries during land clearing and building construction; others have been involved with finding and locating lost and stolen headstones with good old-fashioned detective work; some County Reps have contacted timber companies and “hunt and field clubs” to report back on any hidden and lost cemeteries found in the woods and wilderness; and others have worked with university archaeological teams studying cemetery history and relocation, sometimes supervising GPR radar cemetery surveys. We’ve even had an ACPA County Rep use “witching wands” to locate graves. ACPA County Reps may also coordinate and chair an organized, ACPA meeting group dedicated to cemetery preservation in their county. All of these projects are up to the ACPA County Rep and how they want to be involved. We are ALL volunteers.

All of the “County Reps” administer the ACPA County Representative Pages (located within the ACPA web site) for their own county, and work as a network to respond to queries from the public on cemetery issues.