A major preservation project is now underway at a crumbling burial site in Mamaroneck.

Mamaroneck football players are putting in some community service hours and helping give a major makeover to the gravesite of one of Mamaroneck's founding families. The team is doing some heavy lifting resetting stones and building a stone wall around the burying ground, which is part of the Mamaroneck Historical Society's preservation project to restore the family burying ground of the De Lancey family on Palmer and Delancey avenues.

"It's really cool to have us helping out on something bigger than ourselves, really," says Mamaroneck football player Will Poniros.

John Peter De Lancey came to Mamaroneck after the American Revolution, and built his house and had a family there. The De Lancey family established themselves in the community and over the years, and family members were buried starting in 1806.

But through time, the walls fell down and the grounds deteriorated.

Historians say preserving this piece of history paves the way for the future of Mamaroneck. "Mamaroneck's history will live through burial grounds. Everything goes the way of nature. Buildings don't last, stores don't last, only thing that lasts are burial grounds," says Mike Tripicco, of the Mamaroneck Historical Society.

The historical site will be back to its original form this weekend.