Monthly Recap - April 2023

April was an exceptionally busy month at Woodland.  We thank goodness for that since we have very quickly entered the growing season, and the grass and weeds are trying to take over.  We held 10 work days, hosted about 170 volunteers, and found 28 covered grave markers, installed 1 new marker, and reconnected 1 family with ancestors and loved ones.  For the fountain area we ordered 14 memorial bricks and 2 memorial pavers.

We hosted some very enthusiastic groups this month, and we hope they'll return to volunteer again in the near future.  Thank you to the volunteers from the UR APO service fraternity, the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, Henrico County, Audacy Radio, Eaton Corporation Global Power Management, St. Catherine's and St. Christopher's Schools, the EAB Community, the Ismali Community, Cristo Rey High School, the local PanHellenic group, and the Great Virginia Greenup.  The volunteers removed brush and cut trees, cut the grass, unearthed covered markers, weeded flower beds, and picked up trash.

 

Mike Clark and his workers reset 51 fallen monuments, several of which we had never seen the inscriptions on until they were being prepared to be reset.

We are very excited about our upcoming Open House scheduled on May 20th from 11:00 - 1:00.  In anticipation of that event, we are working to complete some important structural projects.  We have received a fountain and we are hoping to have it hooked up and functioning by the Open House.  We have also nearly completed the installation of a functioning restroom in the chapel.  We received several pallets of hardscaping materials that we plan to place beside the chapel as a patio.  However, this will likely be a mid-summer project.

Finally, we have been so impressed by the work completed by students from the Center for Information Technology at Deep Run High School.  They have enhanced their interactive map that we use to locate burials.  They will be attending the Open House to demonstrate their product.  The map now includes the names of people buried in single grave sections as well as plotted sections, links to findagrave.com entries, and links to 3D images of gravestones.  We look forward to sharing this with the public at the Open House!