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Volunteers fill the Dumpster provided by the landfill with brush |
Rising like an island from a rolling hayfield sea, a one-time servants cemetery begun in the early 19th century has been reclaimed from the undergrowth, reviving another patch of Stafford's historical past.
In three hours on a recent Saturday morning a crew of some 16, armed with bush axes, machetes, pruning shears, pitchforks, rakes and a chain saw, cleared the quarter-acre knoll of natural debris and dead trees. The detritus was thrown into a Dumpster loaned by the Stafford County landfill, and when that was full the rest was piled a distance away to be burned.
The cemetery was begun in 1830, the year the ancestors of the present owners bought the land in North Stafford now known as Poplar Grove Farm. The names of those buried there are unknown. The first were slaves, believed to be mostly children. The estimated 20 graves are marked only by scattered uncut fieldstones. The last burial, of the infant daughter of a servant of the family, was in the 1930s.
A white sign marking the entrance to Poplar Grove Farm says "8 Generations" and "Est. ca. 1830." The fifth generation, Sallie Lou Fitzhugh, runs it today. A nephew, a great-niece and two great-great-nieces and a great-great-nephew (who live on a modern house near the entrance) carry the family line beyond her.
Sallie Lou, 76, lives up the lane from Poplar Road, on the foundation of the original 1700s house in southwest Stafford County. Hers is the third such structure; the first was torn down nearly a century ago because her mother found it "too cold and drafty," and the second burned in 1934. "This house is pretty good for country living," Sallie Lou said as she prepared sandwiches for the cemetery cleanup crew.
The servants' graveyard is a quarter mile across the fields from the house, perched on a crest of the recently mowed hayfield. In its reclaimed state, the graveyard is still marked by sturdy trees, including wild cherry, persimmon (the crew tasted the newly fallen fruit and found it delicious), crape myrtle and cedar (the traditional marker of a cemetery site). There are no poplars.
"Sallie Lou said she needed help to clean this cemetery up," said Anita Dodd, who is chairwoman of Stafford's Cemetery Committee. "The fall is a good time, when the vegetation is down."
Among those in her crew were Linda Belles, coordinator of the committee's Adopt-a-Cemetery Program; Dave Russell, president of the Stafford County Historical Society; Ricky Scites, the bearded president of Stafford Civil War Sites; Barbara Flack, the historical society's historian; Jane and Al Connor and Debbie Shelton, Historical Society stalwarts; Wendy Wheatcraft, county historic preservation planner; and others, all sawing, cutting, chopping and dragging.
These people, and scores of others, have over the years helped uncover some 400 cemeteries found so far in Stafford County. The oldest, in the Aquia area, dates back to the early 1700s, when Stafford was first settled by Europeans. "First we find the cemeteries," said Dodd, "then we clean them up, and then we try to preserve them."
Hugh Muir: 540/735-1975|
The Stafford County Adopt-a-Cemetery program was created by the county in 2006 for anyone interested in the proper care and preservation of cemeteries or of a particular cemetery.
These volunteers include church, school and Scout groups and history organizations, as well as individuals. The program is overseen by the Stafford County Cemetery Committee, which usually meets the third Thursday of each month in the Activity Room of the county administration center at U.S. 1 and Courthouse Road. For information, contact the committee chairwoman, Anita Dodd, at 540/752-9329, or Wendy Wheatcraft, the historic preservation planner, at 540/658-8668. --Hugh Muir |
