More than 200 people came Monday morning for the 10th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service at Athens’ Brooklyn Cemetery.

Most of them stayed into the afternoon for the dedication of the cemetery’s new gate and to honor renowned Athens metal sculptor Harold Rittenberry, who designed and cut the gate’s three panels.

Athens’ Venus Jarrell, who has ancestors and relatives buried in the old African-American cemetery, started off the dedication with a saxophone rendition of "As the Saints Go Marching In," and Rittenberry explained some of the symbolism in the images on the gate.

"I didn’t need much inspiration, because this used to be my playground. It used to be like a park back there," he told the crowd gathered at the cemetery’s West Lake Drive entrance, next to Holy Cross Lutheran Church.

His design noticeably features birds ascending toward the heavens.

"The birds are messengers. They are telling a story of nature," Rittenberry said.

Down below are fish, which are also messengers, he said.

There’s a smaller image of someone reading.

"We are sitting under the tree of knowledge," he said.

Then there’s a fence to remind us that everyone has limits on what they can do and where they can go.

"I hope that inspires somebody to think about what I said," he said.

Leara Rhodes, a volunteer with the cemetery restoration effort, read a proclamation of appreciation from University of Georgia President Jere Morehead.

The gate is the culmination of a fundraising drive begun by longtime volunteer Amber Prentiss. She got help from Kimberly Davis, whose mother, Linda Davis, has for the past 10 years guided efforts to restore the cemetery and identify and record who’s buried there.

Thanks in large part to volunteer genealogy researcher Meriwether Rhodes, more than 1,100 people buried there have been identified, with more to come, Linda Davis said.

Once a primary resting place for African-American families on Athens’ west side, the cemetery had become disused and overgrown until Davis and others launched the restoration efforts.

"They deserve a better resting place, because theirs are the shoulders that we stand upon," she said.

Among those who chipped in to help were the congregation of Holy Cross Lutheran, and Davis thanked the church as she introduced speakers at the ceremony. She tried to remember as many people as possible among those who’d helped get the gate built and aided the continuing restoration project at Brooklyn Cemetery.

"Thank you for giving us the opportunity to find out what it really means to be neighbors. On behalf of the congregation, I say thank you," said Holy Cross Lutheran’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Delmer Chilton.