Working the graveyard shift at historic Oakland Cemetery - Fox 2 News Headlines

Chances are, at some point in your life, you've worked the graveyard shift. But there's at least one man in our community who can legitimately say he works the graveyard shift.

Dustin Hornsby is restoration director at historic Oakland Cemetery. When Good Day Atlanta visited the cemetery, his crew was restoring the Marsh mausoleum. The mausoleum dates back to 1890. At the time, Edwin Marsh owned the largest dry goods retail store in Atlanta. His money bought the incredible monument, and the unique giant urns that are nearby.

Pointing to the mausoleum, Hornsby said "the caulk would've been here, so they come in and cut out the caulk, clean out the joint, and then they come back in with the lime."

They are preserving the Marsh mausoleum by cutting away weathered layers of stone and filling them in with stronger ones. It's painstaking work. There are 55 mausoleums and they are called the cemetery's "Crown Jewels."

"The mausoleums are homes to governors, pioneers, and families that helped create this wonderful city known as Atlanta," said David Moore of the Historic Oakland Foundation.

Thanks to a National Park Service grant, the jewels are getting a polish.

"We divided the cemetery up into 10 restoration phases, and we're actually in phase three and four right now," said Moore.
    
That means there is plenty of work for Hornsby and his team. They are keeping history alive in a place where history is all around you.

And this time of year, of course, everyone wants to know, how spooky is working in a cemetery? Hornsby says he hasn't seen anything supernatural, at least not yet. But you never know…