When Morton F. Plant died in the flu pandemic in November 1918, more than 200 people crowded into New London’s Cedar Grove Cemetery for the burial. The wealthy businessman, resident of Branford House at Avery Point and well-known yachtsman, was beloved locally for his philanthropy. A grateful community was eager to pay its respects.

More than a century later, however, few people visit Plant’s burial plot. In addition, its distinctive and substantial granite monument is marred by black streaks and in need of proper cleaning.

The Plant family’s plot is far from the only historic grave that is seldom visited or adorned with flowers, however. In historic cemeteries throughout the region and beyond, many gravestones marking the final resting places of veterans, the wealthy and well-connected, as well as those who were less acclaimed and of more meager financial means, get little notice from the public.

Overlooked graves also are not the worst of the problems plaguing historic burial grounds. Many older cemeteries, ranging from small family plots and churchyard burial grounds dating to early colonial times, to spacious cemeteries that were carefully designed and landscaped when established, are now neglected, cash-strapped, bankrupt or even completely weed-choked and forgotten.

Thank goodness there are members of the public who understand the importance of restoring and preserving the history of these burial grounds and are working to ensure historic cemeteries and their inhabitants are not forgotten. In Old Lyme, for example, we hail the volunteers who began working in 2021 to restore the oldest section of Duck River Cemetery, which dates to 1676. So far, the individuals have cleaned, repaired, straightened or reset some 133 stones.

Michael Carroll of Mansfield, who heads a group called Rediscovering History, also has been working to clean, reset and often actually unearth long-forgotten grave markers in historic cemeteries throughout the state. His group has done a remarkable job at New London’s Ye Antientist Burial Ground on Hempstead Street, for example, where the earliest burial was in 1652 and where both European settlers and enslaved Africans and Native Americans are interred.

Such work is important not just for the descendants of those buried at these sites, but also because of the many reasons cemeteries themselves are crucial to understanding our past. Cemeteries chronicle a community’s entire history, showing patterns of settlement and immigration. They stand as reminders of our military history and changing attitudes to veterans. Gravestones demonstrate changing artistic styles and public attitudes towards death. They chronicle public health history, showing victims of plagues and epidemics. They provide evidence of social history and public opinion such as racial segregation. The inhabitants of many burial grounds were segregated even in death.

In cemeteries that were part of the 19th century Rural Cemetery Movement — Mystic’s Elm Grove and New London’s Cedar Grove are among these — landscaping was also carefully planned and specific trees and plantings meticulously chosen by top design firms such as that of Frederick Law Olmsted.

Given all the gravitas of burial grounds, we ask the public to give these sites more of their time and attention. Individuals or groups of volunteers should consider approaching cemetery management about organizing events such as cemetery cleanup days or adopt-a-grave campaigns in which individuals pledge to bring appropriate decorations to individual graves on specific occasions. Cemetery friends groups also can be formed to aid in fundraising efforts for large projects such as landscape restoration, chapel and mausoleum repair and gravestone cleaning and repairs.

While no individual, no matter how well-intentioned, should try to clean or repair the sometimes extremely fragile gravestones without knowing how to do so correctly, groups such as the Connecticut Gravestone Network are available to educate the public and volunteers about appropriate gravestone restoration and cleaning.

Many gravestones are engraved with epitaphs that contend the beloved person buried there will never be forgotten. We urge youth groups, adult service organizations and individuals to get involved with a local cemetery restoration project to help ensure the perpetual accuracy of the words so often engraved in stone.