The 206-year-old Old Hopewell Cemetery received another dose of preservation Saturday morning when members of the Vicksburg and Warren County Historical Society cleared brush, trimmed weeds and re-erected monuments.

“You would always hope that someone would always be around to care for cemeteries,” said George “Bubba” Bolm, Old Court House Museum director and society board member. “It’s awesome here… these trees, Spanish moss.”

About eight members of the society volunteered to clean the cemetery — an act taken on by the society since 1996.

Terry Hedrick and his wife, Robin, came from Kilgore, Texas, to help with the cleanup, which happens about twice a year.

“What intrigued me about this cemetery is that it predates Vicksburg,” Terry Hedrick said. “Each one of these tombstones has a story to tell.”

According to the official City of Vicksburg website, Vicksburg was founded in 1811, six years after the cemetery was opened.

The Hedricks have been members of the society since 1997 and have been traveling to Vicksburg for four years to participate in the cemetery cleanup.

There are about 35 marked graves at the cemetery, but ground indentions indicate there were more, author, society member, local historian Gordon Cotton said. Cotton has been part of each workday since the beginning.

“It’s part of our heritage,” said Cotton, who has relatives buried at the cemetery. “It reminds us of where we came from.”

The two-acre cemetery, behind Warrenton Elementary School in south Warren County, was added in 2000 to the National Register of Historic Places, preventing any more burials.