This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/GBB.2ACI/1924.1.1.1.1.1.1.3.1 Message Board Post: Phyliss: 53 Cemeteries in Ky have received the Cemetery Preservation Grant, three cemeteries from Harlan County was included in the grant process, Harlan will receive $ 9,100. The maxium grant a group can receive is $25,000 and the lowest is $ 1,000. A one to one local match is required. County cemetery boards, state agencies, local governments and nonprofit organizations may apply. The three cemeteries located in Harlan are, Ward Cemetery, Wix Howard Cemetery and the Sunshine Cemetery. I would encourage everyone to send in the cemetery of choice to be considered for the grant.To many of our cemeteries in the eastern Kentucky area are slowly disappearing, overgrown, headstone broken, and just plain vandalized. Another area is the historical places are being torn down to make room for parking lots, they bring in more cash flow than restoring buildings for historical value for generations to come. Harlan was the leading coal producers for over fifty years, all the coal camps have disappeared and the beautiful schools that were built are now closed and are being demolished. We as adults should speak up and try to save some of our history, let the politicians know, that we are determined to work for this valuable cause. If we don't, we will only be able to look back and say, "That parking lot, that is where the school stood that my great-grandfather attended, "See that baseball field, that was where I was born and grew up, once, way back yonder it was a thriving coal camp. If we don't then all we will be able to hold onto are memories and memories at some point in time start to fade. Elva