Old cemetery found near Wal-Mart

Date published: 12/12/2005

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CULPEPER--Five years ago, the skeletal remains of Virginia Supreme Court Justice John Williams Green were dug up and re-interred to make way for progress.

Now at least 32 unmarked graves have been discovered in the same area, and they, too, may have to move for the same reason.

The remains are in a muddy cemetery on the future site of Kohl's of Culpeper and next to a Wal-Mart parking lot. Archaeologists say the remains are located within what is known as the Green-Williams family cemetery.

Archaeologist Chip Houston said the remains are pre-Civil War and likely are those of white Virginians, though slave remains could be found beyond the cemetery's perimeters.

Green and the remains of six others were removed five years ago from the burial grounds and re-interred to the town's Fairview Cemetery, at the expense of a land developer and with the permission of Green ancestors. The latest remains will be studied then re-interred.

"As of right now, we've recovered about seven or eight individuals--some adults and some juveniles," Houston said. "They are Christian burials, oriented east to west."

Houston said unmarked graves within family cemeteries were generally reserved for people of lower social status, like "an impoverished cousin."

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources is monitoring the process.

Houston expects work at the old cemetery site will continue for at least another month. As for Kohl's, construction is still slated to begin in April, said Tom Gilgenbach, development director for the project.

Date published: 12/12/2005