HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — College students from a land surveying class unveiled a project which mapped out a large northern Kentucky cemetery and charted grave spaces for future reference.

Cincinnati State’s land surveying certification class has spent months mapping out half of the historic Linden Grove Cemetery in Covington.

What You Need To Know

  •  Students from Cincinnati State’s land surveying certification class have spent months mapping out half of the historic Linden Grove Cemetery in Covington

  • They located hundreds of graves, which will be documented and will be used to set up an online-based system where people can go through and find loved ones

  • The remaining half of the cemetery will be surveyed in collaboration with another Cincinnati State class during the upcoming school year

Jennifer Townsend says finally presenting the capstone project came with a great sense of gratification.

“There's never been a boundary on Linden Grove. So, we were the first to do it,” she said. “We started off with locating all monumentation we could find. We pulled original deeds for the cemetery and we went out and found everything we could to come back and tell them, ‘This is where your property line lies.’ "The original deed for the cemetery is also very vague. We had to go off of everything that was connected to the cemetery to come up with our boundary."

On top of that, they located hundreds of graves — an impactful experience for Jesse Waggoner.

“It was neat to see how much history was here in Covington. "I think it's important to document this information, as what we're doing now is setting up the groundwork for an online-based system, to where people can go through and find loved ones, and see stones that maybe they don't live nearby," Waggoner said.

Waggoner said many of the stones there are sandstone, and the weather has worn them down over time.

“There's going to be quite a few of these graves that we won't be able to make out. But the hope is that we can make out the people around them, and then slowly work our way into being able to identify some of these unmarked graves,” he said.

Cincinnati State is one of the few colleges that offers a four-year surveying degree. Townsend says it’s important work that’s she’s proud of.

"It's very important because of the history aspect,” she said. “There's a lot that went into it. It's basically the framework of how the whole city and how Covington was laid out."

Now, future generations, who will be able to easily look up where their relatives are laid to rest, can thank them.

The remaining half of the cemetery will be surveyed in collaboration with another Cincinnati State class during the upcoming school year.