Excerpted from Information Series No. 76, 1993, National Trust for Historic Preservation

The first component of thorough documentation of the burial ground is a good map that indicates the location of all features and grave markers by number, cross-referenced alphabetically by name. It also includes unmarked graves when known by grave depressions, cemetery records, or oral history (separate symbols are used for each type). Perimeter walls, walkways and paths, vegetation, plot enclosure walls, fences, and copings, as well as any buildings or other features on the site are identified. Sometimes overlays are useful to delineate and clarify features at a complicated site.

Complex sites are better mapped by a professional cartographer. Sometimes a grant may be obtained for such work, or in-kind cartographic services can be identified. The geography department at a local university may agree to include mapmaking of a burial site in an existing internship program or as part of course work, or might recommend students who may be able to provide their mapmaking services at a reasonable fee.

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