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PENSACOLA - A historic Pensacola cemetery got a face-lift today.
The Mount Zion Historical Cemetery dates back to the 19th century and is located near downtown.
There was a lot of progress at the cemetery today.
But they're still many graves buried in brush.
Families out working Saturday said they hope more people will pitch in.
Loved ones are looking for graves lost in a forest of overgrown weeds.
"It's heartbreaking because when you see your parents down here, your mother and you can't find her," said Andrew Carter, cleaning up.
Andrew Carter and his three sisters came cross country to Mount Zion Cemetery to find their mother's resting place.
"It took us about 30-45 minutes to even find the grave. We were all up in here, in the midst of just this," said Ann Mims. "It was really hard, trying to mow it trying to cut it, weed it, trying to do everything."
"When you take a cemetery that's two blocks long, it is really an eyesore and I think it really tears down the community," said Gwinn Corley, Clean & Green.
Reverand Jerry Hunter owns the land but taking care of it became a project to big for him to handle.
"We just didn't have the money or the manpower to do the perpetual care," said Rev. Hunter.
Hunter says he's thankful families, military and community volunteers stepped into help restore sanctity to a place where wild bushes overshadow history.
"We began a dating process of these families and they are the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of American slaves," said Rev. Hunter.
The work here is far from over but these siblings hope the work they've put in will not go unnoticed.
"It's really important to us because we are getting old too and pretty soon we can't come out here and do this. Cover it's really important for someone to come out here and take some responsibility to get this graveyard clean and stay clean," said Ann Mims.
Clean and Green volunteers say they'll be back out here several more times throughout the year to make sure their progress continues.Mt. Zion Cemetery Clean-Up
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