Neighbors clean up Kansas City slave cemetery

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Fountain Waller Cemetery, the final resting place for several slaves and their descendants, had become so overgrown that all but a few headstones were covered with trees and brush.

Volunteers wielding chain saws and weed trimmers are changing that.

"It's kind of a respect thing," Judi Rockers said as she raked leaves away from a headstone. "You look at other graveyards, and they're all nice and well-kept."

Carolyn Scott found the cemetery in a wooded area a few blocks from her home after she moved into the north Kansas City neighborhood a year ago.

The overgrown cemetery was named for a wealthy Clay County farmer who is buried there, along with his slaves and their descendants. Other than a few headstones not overcome by vegetation, little else marked the area.

"It was something you just couldn't put aside," said Scott, 61, a member of the Northland Diversity Council, which chose the cemetery's restoration as a service project.

More than 20 burials were recorded at the site -- the first in 1875, the last in 1957. Now, nearly 45 years after the last descendants of slaves were laid to rest, efforts to restore the area and have it designated a historical site are paying off.

On Saturday morning, the area was buzzing with the sound of chain saws. Volunteers, many of them from the neighborhood, helped drag away brush, downed trees and a mangled woven-wire fence. Landscape crews of the subdivision's developer, The Peterson Cos., also helped.

Lottie Smalls also attended the work day. Some of her relatives are buried at the site.

"This is fantastic, unbelievable," Smalls said. "I never thought I would see this."

By midmorning, the workers had made a clear difference in the 165-foot by 130-foot cemetery. Dozens of small trees still bore orange ribbons marking them for the chain saw.

Once the site is cleared, it probably will be seeded, Scott said. Still in the works are plans for a wrought-iron fence and the cemetery's long-term upkeep.