ELEELE >> A Kauai woman who found a gravestone on an overgrown plot near the beach eventually found she’d discovered a 100-year-old cemetery.

The Garden Island reported that Debrah Davis has been working to clear overgrown grass and weeds from the land since July, uncovering about one-third of the cemetery’s headstones.

Davis says historical records give evidence the cemetery was used for sugar plantation workers who traveled from Asia at the end of the 19th century. Davis says the plot is owned by Alexander and Baldwin Inc., the parent company of McBryde Sugar Co. The landowner did not return calls seeking comment from the newspaper.

Davis says trying to resurrect the cemetery is like an archaeological project. She says clearing the weeds destroyed her weedeater, so she bought a sickle.