WEST CEMETERY GPR SURVEY FIELD WORK COMPLETED - Map & GPS Locations Forthcoming
4/16/2026
The field work portion of West Cemetery’s ground penetrating radar survey was completed the week of March 30th. An employee of Sentry Mapping walked the entire property and located and marked just shy of 300 unmarked graves. Cemetery board members, Rachel Lantz and Deni Wilson, as well as Athens Mayor, Chris Reichert, were in attendance at various times to answer any questions. In anticipation of mowing, city workers replaced each flag indicating an unmarked grave with a piece of rebar.
The cemetery is now waiting for a rough draft of the map. This will take several months, as it will combine GPS points, pictures of burial markers and information from readable monuments, burial locations, and identification of veterans. Once received, the cemetery board will be able to make additions and edits to information before sending it back for finalization. In anticipation of this, board members have been compiling the most complete list of interments possible. Information has been pulled from, and cross-referenced with, Jeanne Weavers’s West Cemetery book, the historical society’s Menard County Cemetery’s book, a West Cemetery headstone survey completed in 2022 by Matthew Ferricks, Menard County death records, and resources from Ancestry.com.
While every effort is being made to locate correct interment information, documentation is not always available for interments that are almost 2 centuries old. Human error is an issue as well. Also, while the board certainly hopes to identify who is interred in some of the unmarked burials, that is not something the survey itself provided. The board asks that citizens please have patience, as this is a lengthy process, and to come forward if they have information about unmarked burials in the cemetery.
Inquiries/information can be directed to Rachel Lantz (rlantz@athensil.gov), or you can contact Athens City Hall at (217) 636-8429.