Digitizing a Cemetery in Presque Isle

I found this story to be interesting as it shows a great project using technology to benefit genealogists all over the country, possibly overseas as well. Besides, I used to live about a half mile from the Fairmount Cemetery.

An article in the Bangor (Maine) Daily News reports that a project between the University of Maine at Presque Isle and the Fairmount Cemetery Association will link generations of the past with the future. The project is thought to be the first large-scale, comprehensive cemetery mapping with GPS and GIS technology in Maine. The goal is to create a cemetery GIS database for historic, cultural and social research that offers access to anyone on the Internet and that will serve as a model for cataloging historic and cultural landmarks.

During the first phase of the project, students collected data at the Fairmount Cemetery, which was established in the 19th century and is one of the oldest and largest graveyards in northern Maine. The data included gravesite lot and plot numbers, names of the interred, birth and death dates, gender, military-civilian service and more from 2,200 lots and more than 10,000 plots. All the lots and plots have been mapped with GPS and GIS technologies, and all the stones have been photographed.

Once the database is finished, anyone will be able to log on to the Internet and gain access by typing in the name of an individual, clicking on the name and pulling up an image of the stone as well as information about the person buried there.

You can read the full story in an article by Jen Lynds at http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail.html?sub_id=126784.

My thanks to Mick O'Halloran for telling about this cemetery project.