The Worthy Women of Watkins Street Cemetery Association wishes to update the residents of Natchez-Adams County and other surrounding areas as to the activities being conducted at the historic Watkins Street Cemetery.

We graciously acknowledge, thank and humbly ask for the continued support and the assistance of our loyal churches, residents, volunteers and city/county leaders as presently these are our only source of operational funds.

We are diligently performing maintenance through daily landscaping, cutting trees, removing fallen limbs, filling graves, spreading gravel and resetting headstones as weather permits.

We are pleased to inform you that at no time has there been any evidence of cemetery vandalism since the Worthy Women of Watkins Street Cemetery Association was formed in 2005.

Activities accomplished in 2013:

-March — 104th anniversary program in the cemetery.

-April — Children placed flowers on the three mass graves of the unidentifiable victims and individual graves of victims of the Rhythm Night Club Fire of 1940.

-Sarah Bogan of Our Heritage Magazine wrote and published an article “History Reclaimed” in the summer/fall edition concerning the cemetery.

-October — Mike Mitchell of North Shore Production filmed a funeral scene at the site of three mass graves (section M) of unidentifiable victims of the Rhythm Night Club Fire of 1940 for a soon-to-be released movie.

-Memorial Day and Veterans Day — children placed flags on all veterans laid to rest in Watkins Street Cemetery.

-We would like to extend our thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Jim Barnett, who in their spare time, are continuing to map the cemetery.

The Worthy Women of Watkins Street Cemetery Association, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, asks for your support in brotherly love to retain the name of the historic Watkins Street Cemetery.

All donations are acknowledged and greatly appreciated and may be mailed to Worthy Women of Watkins Street Cemetery Association, PO Box 17893, Natchez, MS 39122.

 

Dorothy Sanders is a member of The Worthy Women of Watkins Street Cemetery Association.