Bennett Cemetery Preservation Portfolio
“Our community, its history, and its people are important.”
This project is my philanthropic gift, as a professional historian, to the next generation.
I envision Bennett Cemetery as a “Memory Park.” Bennett is a special place to gather, reflect, heal,
and celebrate old memories while making new ones.
Installation of the New Bennett Sign (2020)
Click Photos Below
Completed Installations to Date
4-Tier Black Granite Sign
2 Black Metal Fences: North Entrance
Bennett Cottage: (Seeking volunteer labor for phase 2)
Antique Church Bell: Donated by Suzie Crittenden-Chambers and Jack Wade Chambers
Praying Angel: 5 feet tall and installed inside Bennett Cottage
Upgraded Rogers Family Plot: 8 graves completed
Bennett Cemetery Preservation Project:
Rehabilitating the main entrance, gathering shelter, and many plots of this pre-statehood cemetery has been a personal and professional undertaking. Personally, it felt as though this project had become my calling. To beautify the ancestral grounds of Bennett is a gift of gratitude to those resting here as much as it is a gift of community to future generations.
Professionally, I am pleased to have overseen all aspects of the project. It has been an extensive and ongoing project. All phases of this project were respectfully brought before Leo Smithson, the Chair of the Warner Memorial and Bennett Cemetery Association. Prior to Mr. Smithson's passing he wrote a letter giving me ongoing permission to continue with future upgrades. I value his letter and the confidence he trusts in me.
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The new Bennett Cemetery sign carries the name of my paternal grandfather's great grandparents, Missouri Ann and Joseph Rogers. Joseph is the son of Cherokee parents Mahala and Edley Rogers. The Rogers are multi-racial Indigenous people who trace through all levels of American history. The origin of the Rogers surname in the United States and our direct Euro-ancestry descends from Thomas Rogers. Thomas was the 18th signatory to the Mayflower Compact while the ship was at the Provincetown Harbor on November 11, 1620. Thomas Rogers perished in Plymouth during the first winter due to sickness.
-- Janna "Doc" Rogers