Broken gates, shattered headstones and desecrated grave sites are just the most recent troubles at Compton’s storied cemetery, Woodlawn Celestial Gardens.
“It’s a huge historical landmark,” Compton City Councilman Jonathan Bowers said. “A lot of American history laid to rest here, dating back to the 1800s.”
Among the 26,000 buried here is a baby named Jennie, who died in 1871. Another is Antonia Ruiz, who was born in 1797 and lived through three centuries before dying in 1903 at 112 years old. The historic cemetery also has 17 soldiers who served in the Civil War buried on the hallowed grounds.
“This is an iconic plot of land here,” Bowers said.
For Celestina Bishop, the history at Woodlawn is deeply personal, as she has been visiting for the past 47 years.
“The only way I had my mother in my life was at Woodlawn,” she said.
Bishop’s mother was Billie Collier, buried at Woodlawn in 1977, along with Bishop’s three older sisters. All four died in a murderous rampage.