GETTYSBURG, Pa. — You wouldn't know it by looks alone, but Lincoln Cemetery in Gettysburg, Adams County, could use a "No Vacancy" sign.
"The cemetery is basically full," Lincoln Cemetery Project Association (LCPA) president Jean Green said. "There are over 440 people in the cemetery."
Green, who says she is in the cemetery nearly every day, says many of the graves are in spots she did not expect in the more than 250-year-old burial site.
"There are graves that are in paces I never thought they would be," she said.
Among the scattered shades of autumn is a sea of burning neon orange, marking unmarked graves.
"When these folks are buried, sometimes they do not have the money to purchase a headstone," Green said.
The organization plans to change that. With ground penetrating radar, the LCPA was able to find and flag 136 unmarked graves.
Some belong to Green's family.
"There are quite a few of my ancestors that are in this cemetery," she said. "It warms my heart that we were able to locate them."
The LCPA was the one with the plan. Matt Turner was the man with the machine.
"It's very common in these old cemeteries that many of the markers are missing, for one reason or the next," Matt Turner, a geologist with GeoModel, said.
His company conducted the survey with ground penetrating radar. Turner combines data with the human eye to unearth the graves. No shovel needed.
"It sends a signal to the ground, and it's like an x-ray," he said. "It just looks at the ground, and then I get a signal back. If it looks like a grave, then I mark it on the ground."
The LCPA estimates the effort will cost roughly $35,000. This includes metal detecting for prior markers and for new stones for the priceless piece of history. The cemetery is the historical burial site for Gettysburg's Black community, including 30 men of the U.S Colored Troops who fought in the Civil War.
"Lincoln Cemetery is the only concrete evidence that there was a Black community here," Green said. "These were the movers and shakers."
Green says it's essential that the cemetery is restored and preserved.
"All of these souls that have been here resting with no stone [were] just invisible," she said. "But now, now we can put them back together."
You can donate to the LCPA and help with the project on their website.