EDITORIAL: Man-made danger facing cemetery

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation released its list of 10 Places in Peril on Wednesday. Riverside Cemetery in Macon is on the list. Riverside is well-kept and has a committed group of staff and volunteers who care for the 128-year-old cemetery that's on the National Register of Historic Places. So how did it end up on a list that's intended to draw attention to threatened historic locations?

The cemetery, already cut in two portions by Interstate 75, is in the path of the planned renovations at the I-75/I-16 split and "places retaining walls less than 6 feet from graves in Riverside Cemetery and calls for the removal of trees that currently serve as natural barriers to sunlight, traffic noise and pollution," according to the release.

What can be done? We have repeatedly said that the interchange plans could damage our cultural property. The Georgia Department of Transportation needs to be sensitive to this situation. We are not road engineers and will not hazard a guess how that can be accomplished, but the plans need to be adjusted in such a way where the peace of those who rest in eternity there at Riverside is not disturbed.

This story was originally published November 11, 2015 at 9:52 PM with the headline "EDITORIAL: Man-made danger facing cemetery ."