Stewardship of St. Anne’s Cemetery
Ginger DeLuca gives a cemetery tour with help from Linda Adamson.
Ginger DeLuca, Chair of St. Anne’s Cemetery, reflects on her journey of stewardship, giving her time and talent to caring for the history of Annapolis at St. Anne’s Cemetery and caring for God’s creation in the cemetery gardens.
My husband and I moved to Annapolis 20 years ago, after I retired from 30 years of teaching in FCPS. I taught elementary level, which means that I taught all subjects, although my true love was history, both world and American. But names of dead white men and dates of battles weren’t for me. That meant that my 5th and 6th graders weren’t taught history, they did history. And so during the study of Ancient Egypt we participated in the great mumification ceremony when we mummified my daughter’s old clothing. During the Middle Ages, we held a medieval market day in the medieval village that we built. For American history we moved West in wagon trains, and at the end of the year, we held the Great Civil War Water Balloon fight. When education moved to teaching to prepare for a test, I retired. If I wasn’t having fun, neither were the children.
We moved to Annapolis because of the sailing, the art community and, of course, the history. I chose St. Anne’s because I knew that I would be surrounded by history every Sunday in this beautiful old church. Little did I know that my love of history would lead me to a little-known cemetery just down the street that contained the personal stories of the St. Anne’s parishioners who lived the history of the church as well as the city and made us what we are today. Along the way, I have developed warm friendships with a growing cadre of like-minded parishioners as we have worked to make this historical jewel a beautiful and relevant part of our church and the Annapolis community once again by removing invasive plants from ancient trees and gravestones and planting and tending native gardens. When I am working in our gardens, I feel that I am, in a small way, God’s hands working with his creation.
As I walk through the historical document that is our cemetery, I realize that I am “doing” history once again. The names on the stones compel me to find out more about who these people were, how they lived and their relationships to others buried in our cemetery. This has led me to appreciate the rich tapestry of people who helped create the Annapolis that we know today. How lucky I have been to be allowed to work toward bringing this history to life through the presentations that I have given and the tours that I give to various groups here in the city. St. Anne’s Parish Church was tasked by King William to maintain the “Parish of Annapolis Cemetery” when St. Anne’s was commissioned in 1692. I am proud that we have continued to honor that commitment for over 300 years and I am so blessed that I have been allowed to have a small part in that history.
Ginger DeLuca, Chair of St. Anne’s Cemetery Committee