Cemetery Matching Project

Dardanelle High School

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Students at Dardanelle High School identified a need within the community: families and community members did not have an easy way to locate specific graves at Brearly Cemetery or access information about the individuals buried there. To address this need, Jared, Kevin, and Brandon began developing a digital cemetery map that can serve as a resource for the Dardanelle community. Students visit Brearly Cemetery to photograph tombstones and collect information about individuals who are buried there. They organize the information using Google Sheets and use ArcGIS to create a digital map that connects each grave to its corresponding information. This combination of photography, data collection, organization, and geographic technology allows students to turn information collected in the field into a useful community resource. Students are providing a service to the community while to applying technology and problem-solving skills to a real-world need. The combination of historical preservation and modern technology creates a unique and accessible solution to this problem. Instead of information about the cemetery remaining only on individual headstones or in paper records, students are creating a digital resource that makes the information more accessible and easier to navigate. The project also helps preserve information about the people buried at Brearly Cemetery for future generations. Jimmy Witt, with City Hall, serves as the project's community partner and point of contact. Through this partnership, students are able to work with a community organization to address an authentic local need and create a resource that can benefit families and community members. The project is currently in progress and will continue as students collect additional information and add graves to the digital map. Once completed, the goal is for the map to provide a useful and lasting resource for families, community members, and others researching Brearly Cemetery.