Volunteers clean up Rye Cemetery

The connection was established 13 years ago, so Wimauma's Mary Murray didn't mind a spending March 15 doing labor at the Rye Cemetery as part of Manatee County's Heritage Days.

It was Murray, a member of the Trailblazing Sams chapter of the Good Sams Club, who approached the county staff at Rye Preserve in 2003 with the hope of finding a community service project. Then a Bradenton resident who lived on Rye Road, Murray was told by a ranger about a cemetery that needed some care.

After she visited the Rye Cemetery, which was so covered in debris and trash, she immediately felt drawn to the spot.

“I said, ‘Oh we have to do this,’” Mary Murray said.

The Trailblazing Sams, which included Mary's husband, Rob Murray, came to the cemetery two weekends in a row to repair the fence,

clean up and fix knocked-over gravestones and remove weeds and a tree that had fallen. The cemetery is located near the former settlement of Rye.

Visiting the cemetery again, 13 years later, she still feels connected to the tiny burial place nestled in the woods of the preserve. It contains less than 10 gravestones, all members of the Rye family.

“Everyone was just so taken with it,” she said.  “It feels like it’s a part of me now.”

Volunteers around the country are doing similar clean-up projects this month in conjunction with Heritage Days, a celebration of the county’s history and landmarks.