Rural cemeteries are increasingly at risk of degradation as a generation of caretakers dies off and families sell of their land with family plots. "There are thousands of graveyards scattered across Virginia, many of them small family burial plots on private properties, according to preservationists and historians," J. Freedom du Lac of The Washington Post reports, noting "The burial sites can become overgrown and, eventually, consigned to oblivion."
"The memory of some of these cemeteries tends to be forgotten," Thomas Klatka, an archaeologist with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, told the Post. "It’s a really widespread problem." Virginia is hoping to alleviate the problem by offering cemetery preservation workshops, hoping that the wealth of historical, genealogical and biological information contained in them will not be lost to time.
Vernon Peterson (Post photo) has been looking after the 122-year-old Rock Hill Cemetery in Loudoun County, Va., for almost half its existence, but he worries what will happen to the facility after he dies. "Somebody’s gotta take it over," he said. "Nobody has stepped up yet. It bothers me, yes it does." In a book for his successor, Peterson, 80, has recorded each of the graves, which include a member of the Union army's 1st U.S. Colored Infantry and his granddaughter, who was killed during the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting spree. "Somebody has to take an interest. And it can’t just be anybody. It has to be a special person." (Read more)
"The memory of some of these cemeteries tends to be forgotten," Thomas Klatka, an archaeologist with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, told the Post. "It’s a really widespread problem." Virginia is hoping to alleviate the problem by offering cemetery preservation workshops, hoping that the wealth of historical, genealogical and biological information contained in them will not be lost to time.
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