MIDDLEBORO — The Friends of Middleboro Cemeteries was formed by a group of  local history buffs in hope of documenting the town’s historic gravestones and of  cleaning, resetting, and repairing the thousands of historic gravestones in local “burial grounds.’’ The group welcomes volunteers to help continue this work.

The organization is hosting a meet and greet from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Middleboro Public Library to allow the public to learn more about the organization and its efforts. 

Middleboro has an incredibly rich history. Native Americans have  lived and died here for centuries, if not thousands of years. European settlers moved in during the early 1600s, sharing the land already cleared  by the indigenous population.  

When native folks died, they were usually buried in the ground with  no markers for their graves. They may be buried in local back yards. The early European settlers marked graves with wooden stakes with the  initials or name carved into them. Over the years, these wooden markers would fall over and fall apart, losing that piece of area ancestry.  

By the early 1700’s, local slate started to be used to mark Colonial  graves with names and dates carved into the slate by local carvers. There are about 30 Colonial era burial grounds in Middleboro, marking the final  resting places of area ancestors, many of them Pilgrim descendants.  

Group members continue to document, clean, and reset gravestones in historic burial grounds and hope to start repairing and resetting damaged  and unreadable gravestones.  

Those interested can follow the group’s activities on the group’s website on  Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheFoMC. Anyone who has a local gravestone that needs cleaning, resetting, or repair, the group will do a special visit  and work on cleaning and resetting your family marker for a fee. 

The Friends of Middleborough Cemeteries Facebook connection can help connect those interested with cleaning and repair services for historic family gravestones in Middleboro.

To learn more about the group, visit www.friendsofmiddleboroughcemeteries.org