Many Howard residents might not even notice the small family cemeteries, but county officials and preservationists are working to make sure this piece of history isn?t forgotten.
“We want to make sure they are not destroyed,” Planning and Zoning Director Marsha McLaughlin said.
The Planning and Zoning Department keeps an inventory of all cemeteries, large and small, in the county.
When developers come to Howard for building approval, they must confirm the boundaries of the cemetery to protect the plots, McLaughlin said.
Then the development?s homeowners association or Columbia Association?s open space team is often responsible for taking care of the cemetery, McLaughlin said.
Most small plots have been discovered. The latest was recorded about nine months ago, the first one in four years, said George Beisser, head of zoning administration andpublic services at the Planning and Zoning Department.
Barbara Sieg, former president of the Ellicott City-based Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites Inc., put the number of small burial plots in Howard at about 300.
The county?s inventory began with the 1994 creation of the Cemetery Preservation Advisory Board, which meets annually if necessary, Beisser said.
Preservation Howard County also has taken an interest in preserving the plots. Cemeteries have been named on its top 10 list of endangered sites, and each year the group funds small grants to residents dedicated to preserving a cemetery, said Mary Catherine Cochran, president of Preservation Howard County.
The grants, usually $500 to $1,000, help maintain the land, such as removing the weeds and building a small pathway to the plot.
AT A GLANCE
Howard has 20 to 25 pages of recorded cemeteries, each with a map and varying from one stone to a full graveyard, said George Beisser, head of zoning administration and public services at the county?s Planning and Zoning Department.
