Almost every inch of Concordia Cemetery in Central El Paso is covered by weeds, some as tall as 6 feet. Many of the graves aren't visible anymore; some are taped off, and others are lying 2 feet underground.

"The floods caused over 200 graves to sink, head stones were damaged as they went into the sunken graves," said Patricia Kiddney, President of the Concordia Heritage Association. The organization is in charge of the preserving and maintaining this boot hill cemetery.

For the past two weeks probationers have been working to get the cemetery back to its original state, but it could take until the end of the year to make that happen.

The organization works in conjunction with the Department of Corrections. Probationers are the ones who work on upkeeping the cemetery, but the ground work is only done twice a week for a total of eight hours. Kiddney said there's too much work and not enough hands.

The 52-acre graveyard was founded around 1840, and has been listed as a Texas State Historical Cemetery. It is the resting place of more than 60,000 famous and not-so-famous people.

The most visited grave is that of John Wesley Hardin, the most famous gunman of his time. That grave sits in the best kept part of the cemetery.

If you would like to help with the cleaning up of Concordia, call 591-2326.

For more information you can also visit: Concordia Cemetery