NORTH ATTLEBORO - The future of a Draper Avenue burial ground may become clearer during tonight's semi-annual town meeting.

The historical commission wants $3,300 to "professionally saw cut" cement around the gravestones at the Mann Family Burial Ground, according to Chairwoman Ann Chapdelaine.

Installed so that the site would not require maintenance, the cement cover is causing problems with the stones, commission member Margo Davis said.

The semi-annual town meeting starts at 7 p.m. at North Attleboro Middle School.

The commission is trying to improve public access to the cemetery. "The invisible nature of this resource leads to non-recognition and makes it easier for people to come in and destroy the place," archeologist Barbara Donohue said Sunday.

The pathway to the burial ground has been cleared off more since last year, Donohue said.

The commission has hired Donohue to document the site's history and develop a preservation plan.

The work is being funded through a $5,000 donation from Nancy Budd of Holland, Mich. Budd is a descendant of the Mann family.

Donohue presented a report during a tour of the burial ground Sunday. Her idea is to generate interest and support for the project.

A ground penetrating radar survey of the burial ground revealed 10 burial shafts in the 20-by-20 foot plot.

Two of these burial shafts are unmarked.

Donohue said she believes one of the unmarked graves belongs to Dr. Bezaleel Mann's wife, Bebe.

Others buried in the plot include Dr. Herbert Mann and Mary Draper, the only individuals with intact gravestones in the burial plot.

Mann was killed on a ship when a snowstorm hit Plymouth in 1778. Donohue urged those who have more information to come forward.

"Anything could help put the pieces back together," she said.