Volunteers working nearly a decade to restore Fairfield cemetery
Jeff Taylor and others have been digging up pieces of history at the Greenfield Hill Cemetery.
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A group of volunteers has spent nearly a decade restoring a cemetery in Fairfield.
On any given Wednesday or Friday morning, Jeff Taylor and others can be found at the Greenfield Hill Cemetery in Fairfield digging up headstones.
Taylor started the project over eight years ago when he learned who had once lived in his home.
"This guy Abraham Baldwin that was one of the co-writers of the Constitution was actually buried in Washington, but his monument is here. I came here to do that research," Taylor says.
He says he could not shake a haunting feeling about the cemetery that he decided to revive it.
"I learned how to lift the monuments, how to repair them and how to clean them," Taylor says.
Along the way, he picked up a remarkable group of volunteers.
"It's making me a younger man," said volunteer Bert Andren, who has worked to restore the cemetery since the very beginning. "It's much more than I ever thought it would be, much more."
"Showed up as a volunteer one day, and Jeff handed me the map," added volunteer Mike Moore.
The group has been digging up pieces of history along the way.
"There's 113 Revolutionary War soldiers that are buried here. It's the largest contingent of Revolutionary War soldiers that are named," Taylor says.
The group has also kept track of every headstone to keep the soldiers' memories alive.
