The Associated Press

DAYTON, Ohio - For years, Jim Sandegren has been fielding questions from visitors to Woodland Cemetery and the graves of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

The cemetery historian and horticulturalist said the most frequently asked question is: Why are the gravestones of the famous brothers so small?

The Wright brothers, who invented and developed the airplane in their hometown of Dayton, are buried with their sister, Katherine. There is a granite monument with the Wright name engraved on it and three small individual headstones nearby.

"Visitors expect something big and ornate," Sandegren said. "But the Wrights were actually pretty simple people. This is what they wanted. They weren't showy."

Sandegren is bracing for an onslaught of visitors because of this year's 100th anniversary celebration of the Wright brothers' first flight.

"I'm expecting there to be quite a bit," Sandegren said Thursday. "I've seen more buses."

With a little help, Sandegren normally handles the 2,000 to 2,500 visitors who come to see the cemetery and the Wright graves each year. But he plans to train about a dozen tour guides to help this year.

"I'm blessed with this material and the knowledge I have," the graveside storyteller said.

About 95,000 people are buried at the 187-acre cemetery, which was founded in 1841.

Sandegren, 65, of Clayton, began working at the cemetery in 1988 as a horticulturalist.

While at the cemetery, Sandegren became interested in the Wright brothers, reading books and historical records. He later met and befriended several descendants of the Wrights, who provided him with information.