Greetings family members, supporters, friends and neighbors. I realize it has been over a year since I have updated this blog. While everything is going ok at Hillcrest and with the Association, it has been a very eventful year for us all. Those of you who know me—this is Kevin Hudson writing the update— know that brevity is not my strong suit, but I will try to hit just the highlights in this post.

  • Steven K. Bramlett

    On April 29th of this year one of the founders of our association, Hillcrest Historian Steven Bramlett, passed away. Steven was the impetus for the creation of an association to preserve and restore Hillcrest, and first inspired me to get involved in the project. After he saw that Hillcrest was on track for preservation, he moved on to other area cemeteries, then turned his attention to the East Point Historical Society where he was on the Board of Directors and held the position of Curator, but I could tell Hillcrest was his first priority even when he didn’t always admit it. Steven is survived by his mother, and missed by many friends and fellow historians and preservationists.

  • In October, I moved from East Point to Athens. I am still involved with Hillcrest in terms of technical items such as maintaining the information we have on burials, our online presence and helping with locating graves, however, I resigned my position as Chairman of the Board of Hillcrest and my regular position on the Board because of my inability to be present at the quarterly board meetings. I will always have a place in my heart, and presumably my scheduled, for Hillcrest, and hope to become more active again in the future.
  • The loss of Steven and my moving out of the area has left Hillcrest without anyone available locally to find and/or mark graves for new burials, family visits and researchers. (And only one person who knows enough about the layout to do it remotely.) While I hope to find at least two other people with the availability and willingness to again offer on-site location services, I have begun the process of making “self-service” grave location available as an option at Hillcrest. This weekend we began by logging more information to use as landmarks and taking some key photos. These will be used on an enhanced website later this year which will allow users to find a grave location “address” online, then use new maps to see an overview pointing out the location in a way that will pinpoint most graves, and give guidance for finding others. I hope to have this somewhat completed by mid-summer.
  • Besides adding the grave search functionality, I plan to thoroughly update the existing Web site this summer as well.
  • The apartments across the street from Hillcrest have been closed down and boarded up, and are slated for demolition soon. There has been no recent word on plans for the site, but prior to the housing market downturn, a new mixed-income development was planned.

  • Freshly repaved Stanton Road

    Stanton Road has just been repaved by the City of East Point from Langford Parkway (Lakewood Freeway) to Norman Berry Drive.

  • We are continuing to mow all of Hillcrest during the growing season, however, for the last couple of years, the amount in our bank account has been shrinking as donations have slowed dramatically.
  • To the best of my knowledge, monthly scheduled cleanups have been suspended for some time. While there is some work to be done on a regular basis, now that all of the graves have been made accessible, it is not quite as important. Presumably, scheduled and group events will resume in the future.
  • The main portion of the Hillcrest Veterans Memorial Wall has been constructed. We anticipate completing the project this year (installation of the engraved brick pavers, flagpole and other details) and will announce a dedication ceremony when it has been scheduled.
  • I plan to post another update within the month, hopefully including a message from the current Hillcrest Board.
With warmest regards,
Kevin
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