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when local funeral home owner Ronald Hall – who has family buried in the Cemetery and frequently travels to the site with his business – noticed a deterioration in the location’s infrastructure and made a public offer to donate $10,000 if a fund was created to improve the Cemetery’s streets.

From there, the project became bigger, as other community members, such as John Ladson, Andy Thompson, and Charles Andrew, shared the desire to help restore the Cemetery to its former glory.

“I called Ronald because I had a concern about [my family members buried at Pine Crest] and suggested to him that we form a committee and take a little bit broader view of Pine Crest, as opposed to just the streets, because there were other issues there that needed to be addressed – the maintenance in there; there were leaks in the water system; the entranceway had been damaged. [The group] could try to take a comprehensive look at the cemetery and see what all we might get done. So we formed a committee,” Ladson explained.

Ladson said that the committee immediately set several goals and objectives for the Cemetery’s improvement and began raising money to fund those projects. Initially, the group raised around $220,000 to work on the site, but have raised more money since then, reaching up to $250,000 total.

Yet, before completing the work on the Cemetery, the group had to research the site’s history in attempt to discover who owned the property. “That turned out to be a more complex question than I ever dreamed, because, frankly, I had identified Pine Crest largely with the Murchison family, who had been in the funeral home business here for many years,” Ladson remarked. “But we, with the help of Andy Thompson, Charles Andrew, and some others on our committee, went back to the very origins of the Cemetery, and it turned out that the city of Vidalia actually bought the core area of what became Pine Crest around 1905. By that time, the old historic cemetery (on Church Street) really was beginning to run out of room, so they started Pine Crest.”

He continued, as he stated that the Murchison family bought property adjacent to the north side of the Cemetery, creating another “wing” to the site under private ownership, while fellow funeral home owner J.L. Tolison did the same thing on the southern border of the land.

“In order to get the proper platform to do what we needed to do, we felt like we needed to get those interests (properties) that were not owned by the city into the city’s care. So, we went about doing that and the Murchison and Tolison families were cooperative and gave quit claim deeds [on the land],” Ladson commented. “We put Pine Crest under the city’s umbrella.”

Previously, the city’s portion of the Cemetery was governed by Pine Crest Trust I, which was established in 1984 and named the mayor and city council members as the trustees. The intent was that interest from the Trust be set aside for the future maintenance of Pinecrest, but through the years, this resource has become insufficient to sustain care of the cemetery. The City of Vidalia stepped in to address the lots that have become derelict, mowed grass in common areas, and repaired potholes on the gravel roads, but major improvements were not completed.

In recent years, as more funding has been raised, a second trust – the Pine Crest Perpetual Trust II – was created and is overseen by Trust Advisory Board Chairman John Ladson and members.

“You want a board of trustees that would be there in perpetuity – so, we would hope that the city council will be there [to oversee the trust] forever and ever,” Ladson explained. “It also provides a surefire qualification of donations because its tax free. Even though it could have been a 501c3, that was problematic according to the tax lawyers. All of this to say: it’s taken us a long time from the point in which we envisioned the improvements that need to be made, and to get the platform and the money to do it.”

He praised the city administration – especially the City Manager – for their help and support in the project. “We couldn’t have done this without their permission and without their full support,” he emphasized.

Improvements The first improvement to Pine Crest Cemetery was the water system, which was fully replaced, as the old water system had not only deteriorated with time, but had a leaking issue.

“We had to do that before we could do anything with the roads because [to fix it] you might be digging up across the road,” Ladson clarified. “So, once we got the water system in place, then we were in a position to get the roads repaved.”

He explained that because the City oversees the Cemetery, the road improvements had to be contracted through a formal bidding process, which caused the project to take longer. However, over the past two months, the roads have been fully repaved.

“We’re beginning to kind of bring to fruition the vision that we have for the improvements and progress, but there remains other things we want to do,” Ladson added.

The next improvement that is slated to be completed is the installation of road signs throughout the cemetery. These streets have been named for families who donated to the Cemetery as a part of a fundraiser effort. These street names will go on signs – which Ladson said are not traditional road signs, but appropriate and attractive signs – that will be installed throughout the property. The bases for the sign posts have already been installed; the signs and posts have been ordered, but have not come in yet.

Trustees and the Advisory Board are also working towards fencing the cemetery because currently, the area is open at night and unprotected. This fencing would not be chain link fence, but rather a sort of picket fence with brick plasters.

“In conjunction with the fencing, we also would like to get some ideas for some additional landscaping in the Cemetery,” Ladson remarked. “So what we’re going to do is go to a professional – probably a landscaping design firm – and involve them to help us come up with a master plan for some of the additional improvements, including the fencing and how it would be installed.”

He continued, as he shared the group had plans to install an automated gate at the entrance of the site. “We’re going to install a barrier of sorts at that entranceway to preclude vehicles over a certain height from going in there because the old arch that was put there back in the 1920s had been hit several times. So, we’re going to protect it and then we’re going to move – for lack of better words – the construction traffic (vault and monument companies) to an entranceway on the north end. It will have a great big gate so they won’t be trying to go through that arch anymore,” Ladson said.

He also stated that he hopes that one day, Pine Crest Cemetery will reopen for the public to buy plots for burial, as he said there is room for additional graves and he feels that the city has an interest in the project.

In addition, Ladson said the group hopes to create a rest and meditation area near the Darby Mausoleum, as the group continues to improve and restore the cemetery.

For information on the Pine Crest Cemetery, or to donate to the initiative, visit the Cemetery website at pinecrestcemetery.org.