City historians working to preserve the rich history of East Austin need your help deciding what to do after a shocking discovery at Oakwood Cemetery.
Crews unearthed bones and artifacts buried not in graves, but below a chapel under restoration.
Months later there are still lots of questions.
"I'm glad that people are interested," said Oakwood Cemetery manager Tonja Wills-Davis. "And I'm glad that people seem to recognize that we are trying to do the right thing."
Wills-Davis was among city leaders gathered in east Austin Saturday morning to gather those questions, ideas and most importantly solutions. They are wondering how to proceed with cemetery renovations while respecting the final resting place of residents who died more than a century ago.
The discovery was not a surprise to Pamela McKinney, who was born and raised in east Austin.
"Even though there was no evidence we just knew because our foreparents told us that it was," McKinney said.
She believes the graves in the traditionally African-American section of the cemetery should stay undisturbed rather than exhumed as restoration continues.
But that's just one of the suggestions.
Notepads were filled up with everything from constructing a glass floor in the chapel to developing a smartphone app that would identify graves during a tour of the site.
McKinney says she doesn't favor all of the ideas but does agree preserving the past for future generations is paramount.
"It's so important so that all people will have the opportunity to know the truth, and how we lived and what we did and the progress that we've made."
For more information on the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel Rehabilitation project, click here.