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Development puts long-abandoned cemeteries in complicated position. Date published: 3/28/2003
One day in late November, six people met under some oak trees on a hill in Stafford County's England Run North subdivision. Two were angry, four conciliatory. All agreed that the 40-foot by 40-foot square of land they stood on was a slave cemetery belonging to the antebellum Ellerslie plantation. But Charles H. Price and Joyce Withers, members of Stafford's Cemetery Advisory Committee, were certain the slave cemetery had once been much larger. They insisted that parts of the cemetery had been bulldozed to create neat, level surfaces for two suburban back yards. And not only was dirt removed, Price claimed, so were several uninscribed fieldstones that might have served as grave markers. But the boundaries of slave cemeteries or other long-abandoned burial grounds can be difficult to delineate without expensive archaeological surveys that look for human remains, indentations and soil stains that indicate decomposition. No such study was legally required or done voluntarily in this case. The Ellerslie slave cemetery disagreement illustrates the continuing pressure on historic ground as the area changes. These days, Stafford County planners can negotiate for formal studies of cemeteries and other historic and environmental sites before property is rezoned. But in the case of older rezonings, such as that of the Ellerslie tract, preservation advocates must rely on remembered history, visible remnants and the developers' good will. The cemetery site is in a part of England Run North off Plantation Drive in Stafford. That day in November, Price and Withers were joined by two members of Stafford County's Planning Department, Aaron Shriber and Kathy Baker. From the Silver Cos., the subdivision's developer, were engineer Dave Bridge and a company vice president, Richard Tremblay. Withers took notes of the conversation and transcribed them that night. She provided a copy to the newspaper last week. Price, 79, is a longtime county resident who in 1995 helped form and became the first chairman of the cemetery committee, a volunteer advisory group that reports to the Board of Supervisors. Using written records, oral histories and personal inspection, the group has documented more than 350 old cemeteries in Stafford.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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