The last week of October family cemeteries all across St. Tammany are spiffed up and tombs painted, weeds cut down, and repairs made to gravesites. It's all in preparation for All Saints Day, November 1, when legacy family cemeteries are visited by hundreds of descendants of those loved ones buried within.
Some families turn the annual cemetery clean up efforts into gatherings of young and old, bringing picnic lunches, along with the trimmers, rakes and family history scrapbooks.
Such was the case at one of St. Tammany's oldest family cemeteries, the Tom Spell Cemetery in Chinchuba. This past Saturday dozens of family members from throughout the area converged on the cemetery, enjoying visiting under the shades of the trees, working together to clear away the brush, level the gravesites that needed attention, and partake of a lunch while sharing memories of ancestors long gone.
Here are some photographs of that special occasion.
