Volunteers needed to help cleanup abandoned cemetery

Nestled in the middle of the Long Lake Subdivision in south Caddo Parish is the abandoned White-Lattier Cemetery. It houses some of the oldest graves in the region.

"There's a grave here from 1846 and we have very few in this area that date back that far," said Jeffrey Girard, a regional archaeologist.

"It's a treasure, this is a jewel in the rough," said Dr. Gary Joiner, a History Professor at LSU-Shreveport. 

"It's very rare indeed when something like this is found and we can work with it before it's not too late."

There are seven or eight recorded graves in the cemetery, including that of a Confederate soldier.

Dr. Gary Joiner, believes the cemetery was part of the White Plantation.

"This amazing piece of Shreveport history that we have and if we don't preserve it, once it's gone, we can't replace it," said Lisa Nelson, who lives in the neighborhood.

Nelson is working actively to preserve the cemetery, and keep vandals away. She placed a small sign at the entrance to alert visitors that they are stomping on sacred ground.

Some of the tombstones have already been damaged. The group is looking for volunteers to help clear the fallen trees and brush, so they can locate more graves that aren't marked.

They also hope the landowner will build a fence around it.

The group has mapped the cemetery and uploaded pictures of the tombstones to a database on www.billiongraves.com.

If you would like to help clean up the cemetery, call Gary Joiner at 318-798-4176 or Jeffrey Girard at 318-357-5471.