Beulah cemetery is one of the most recognized cemeteries not only in Vicksburg, but also in the state of Mississippi.

For Flag Day, the cemetery honored the people buried on their grounds by putting up flags and blue markers on the graves of those who lost their lives in battle.

“For the people that come to Beulah this weekend, they will be blown away by the beauty and history of Beulah,” Yolande Robbins, president of the Beulah cemetery said.

The cemetery is known as a traditional African American cemetery and most of the African Americans that weren’t buried by their respective church were buried at Beulah.

At 74-years old, Robbins has been familiar with the cemetery for many years. A man she knew as Mr. Tillman, who was the lone keeper of the cemetery, introduced her to Beulah Cemetery. As a child, she interacted with Tillman frequently and became entranced with the grounds.

Robbins knew that some of Tillman’s family members would help keep the grounds clean with him, but she knew him as the lone keeper of the cemetery. Once he left, the place changed.

“Once Mr. Tillman died, no one would regularly watched it and keept it clean like it used to be,” Robbins said.

According to Robbins, the grounds were a complete mess. The tombstones would never be straight, snakes were all over the place and the cemetery had lost the beauty that made it special to her.

“It was just not the same place I remembered it to be,” Robbins said. “It needed to be changed.”

Robbins has been at Beulah Cemetery the past three decades and she has done her very best to keep the grounds beautiful, like the time she remembered it to be when she was a little girl.

Since then, Beulah is looked at as one of the most scenic and beautiful in Vicksburg and one of the best in the state of Mississippi.

“The hills and valleys, the hand-crafted tombs, and the history behind it is what makes Beulah so special,” Robbins said.

Even with the history and beauty behind the grounds, Robbins feels as if the younger generation doesn’t know about the cemetery and wants to create more of a physical interest so younger people can come out and find interest in the cemetery.

Re-establishing the emotional connection is important to Robbins and with the older generation of visitors to Beulah.

Honoring veterans is a special moment for Beulah Cemetery on Flag Day.

“I don’t want to feel that these personnel have been forgotten,” James L. Brown, the vice president of the Beulah Cemetery and Vietnam War veteran said. “They served their country so that we could have freedom. We need to get out here and get involved and just restore this great cemetery.”