Below is one archived Letter to the Editor of the Herald Progress newspaper dated March 8, 2002.
The Pebble Creek graves
There is something unfolding in the Pebble Creek subdivision in Hanover County that all Hanoverians, better, all human beings need to know about, and more importantly, care deeply about. A cemetery, probably a slave cemetery that may date from the early 1800’s into 1970, when the last known burial took place, is being excavated and moved without dignity with the blessing of a court order as I understand it, by the developer.
What gives me pause is why and how this is being done. Why? The almighty dollar to get those last lots developed at the least possible cost. Hide it if they can.
Last week, WRIC TV ran a news piece about this and people’s concerns. What I saw in that short minute or so made me sick to my stomach. I saw a backhoe bite into the earth and scoop up what I suppose was a grave! I saw someone with a shovel dig into that. Then I got very uneasy as I then saw the individual ribs of a poor soul who has long since passed before us, grabbed up in a hand full, thrown into a large plastic trash can, probably with other bones, and then at some point in time, not placed, but dumped into a burial vault, as one sees trash collectors throw trash up and into the back of a trash truck. There are not individual coffins or burial vaults.
According to a representative of the company doing the work, 147 bodies have been "dug" so far. They are but maybe 65% complete. This has nothing to do with the company and how they are doing this as they have been hired and instructed how to do the job. What I have seen and described in a cursory manner is the biggest part of the problem… The how!
Because of this and my feeling and experience in seeing how this same scenario continues to be played out everywhere, especially in Hanover County, ripe with and for development, I am going to break my cardinal rule and advocate for those souls who have not authorized me to do so. In this case, no one stepped up to the plate as did those who advocated for the dead in the Tate cemetery and forced the county in connection with the Pamunkey waste water treatment facility, to properly remove and rebury those souls at a cost estimated to be more than $100,000 to the taxpayer, probably more like $150,000.
If you look at how we as human beings treat our dead and the burial of their remains, there is no one I can imagine that does not feel the need for respect and an eternal resting place. It makes no difference what one’s stead in life was as to how we bury people. It has nothing to do with whether they were slaves of the Pharaohs, slaves in the Americas, the Pharaohs themselves, plantation owners or simply hard working men and women eeking out a living from the earth. We all will return to the earth one day, and as is the case with most in this slave cemetery, literally become a part of the earth again. Their resting place was selected as it was removed from the day to day operations of the life at the time. It was protected because that is where they would be for eternity, peacefully resting. (As an aside, those who knew and know about this cemetery, feel that the Sydnor family cemetery is within some 130 feet or so south of the cemetery in question. It seems they might have met a worse fate in that they maybe under the cul-de-sac or other improvement if they were not dug up and not reported.)
Now that the word is out about this matter and the indignity and lack of respect with how it is being accomplished, the spin is on. The county government says "we didn’t know and it is allowed by court order." The Department of Historic Resources, straight forwardly said their hands are tied because of the court order, but did indicate that they had consulted with the developer, advised of a cemetery and suggested how to handle it. They also advised the county and sent them information. As to the developer, I have not spoken with him. By virtue of no work on site since the WRIC TV news piece, that says something. And, the standard answer will more than likely will be, "I didn’t know about it." Ask yourself one question. How many developers buy land without officially or unofficially knowing about the property? It is not about the legality of a court order, but what you do with and how you do it. Rhetorically, would you remove and rebury your family at all, much less in this manner, Mr. Developer?
There are several in the community who have worked this land getting up hay or the like or played there, and know and knew about the old house called Dungarvon, the family and slave cemeteries and where all of this is/was. There is some thought that there is someone who actually probed the cemetery and knows its limits. Did not this man offer to share his knowledge with the homeowners association? From what is known, it probably encompasses more than the two lots. Also, this land was owned by the same person who bulldozed Civil War trenches at another nearby location so that the land would incur less scrutiny when sold and developed.
What needs to happen? The indignity needs to be righted. The bodies already removed need to be returned to "their" earth and the area marked and left as the cemetery. If there are bodies off site, they need to be dealt with. If in fact, the Sydnor family cemetery is under something, it needs to be daylighted, marked and respected. Will any of this happen? I doubt it!
But, with the souls of those resting in peace in known and unknown graves, some deliberately hidden with markers removed and buried below plow zones for example, I submit that they were citizens of the governing body of the land in which they rest, and as such, the governing body has a responsibility to advocate for them. They have paid their dues.
Rather than pass laws to make it easier to move ‘em, forget ‘em, etc., return to the way it was. Remember when it took an act of God to move, disturb or destroy cemeteries? Let’s make it right again. There was, if memory serves me, a list in each courthouse of cemeteries on private land. What happened to it? The almighty dollar and developer interests have effectively encouraged and hastened the destruction of cemeteries and other features of historical interest. No one cares for the most part, especially the local governing bodies. If they did, they would step in. Hanover, you can step in! But development means money to them. Folks in government, you represent us too. Don’t continue to sell us down the river. We don’t need everything developed! Look:
http://www.geocities.com/lidiadracul/PEBBLECREEK.html
What can you do? Advocate for those who have no one. If you know of private family or slave or what ever kind of cemetery, identify it to the county and the local historical society. In Hanover County, send it to the County Administrator, Hanover County, P.O. Box 470, Hanover , VA 23069. Also send a copy to the Hanover County Historical Society, P.O. Box 91, Hanover, Va., 23069. They have published two family cemetery books that don’t even scratch the surface and will publish more. In this case, stand and be counted, let the county government know how you feel. Call 365-6000, ask for the County Administrator and let him know what you think. Stay alert! And right this Pebble Creek subdivision cemetery indignity.
Art Taylor
BeaverDam