The City of Victoria Parks and Recreation has contracted Omega Mapping Services to collect and organize precise location data for more than 9,000 burials in the historic Evergreen Cemetery to inform future generations and protect existing internments.
Omega Mapping Services will be working at the cemetery for a period of 4 to 6 weeks starting Feb. 18. The mapping service uses ground-penetrating radar and GPS coordinates to create maps showing the locations of both marked and unmarked burials.
In a news release, Omega Mapping Services stated that maintaining an accurate inventory and map of cemetery features is an important aspect of preservation. Cemeteries are valuable historical resources because they provide information on settlement patterns, historic events, religions, lifestyles and genealogy.
Founded in the 1850s, Evergreen Cemetery is situated on a portion of 27 acres of land that was granted to the city by the Republic of Texas. It was created as a replacement for Victoria’s first community cemetery, now known as Memorial Square. Many residents originally buried at Memorial Square were re-interred at Evergreen, along with those who were re-interred when Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church was demolished in 1868. Evergreen Cemetery now spans 30 acres and has more than 9,000 graves, including those of Victoria’s founder, Don Martín de León, and his wife, Doña Patricia de la Garza de León.
For more information about the project, call Parks and Recreation at 361-485-3220.