By Debbie Hall and Taylor Boyd
A team from the Cultural Resources Program will be deployed to Patrick County this week after concerns of damage at a local cemetery surfaced.
Tony Handy, an area construction manager with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), met family members at the Jacob Fain Cemetery on Greasy Bend Lane on Monday.
“One of the ladies” at the site visit “felt like there was a row of stone markers that were damaged,” said Handy.
VDOT announced earlier this month that it had entered into an amended agreement for a $300 million project with Branch Civil Inc. to widen 7.4 miles of U.S. 58 over Lovers Leap Mountain.
Crews with Branch Civil had been working in several areas collecting the core samples needed before the design phase of the project got underway, Handy said.
VDOT’s cultural resources program focuses on complying with federal and state historic preservation mandates, such as the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
It consults with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and other agencies to determine if a transportation project or activity will affect buildings, structures, districts, objects, and sites listed in, or eligible for listing in, the National Register of Historic Places.
Crews from the program often conduct field studies to identify such resources, according to VDOT’s website, and “it’s not uncommon for the public to encounter VDOT archaeologists or architectural historians performing investigations.”
After visiting the site, the team “will need time to do research and follow-ups, if needed,” Handy said.
Jason Bond, spokesman for the department, said it is difficult to speculate on a timeline for completion of the review or a release of the findings.
The site meeting Monday was the second Handy attended in as many days.
He and Lisa Price-Hughes, resident engineer of VDOT, met several family members at the cemetery on Sunday.
“All of the folks (Sunday) also looked in that area” of concern Monday “and didn’t have any concerns,” Handy said. “The initial site owners we met with were satisfied.”
In fact, after Sunday’s site visit, the consensus was confirmation “that everything’s okay and hadn’t been disturbed by Branch’s core drilling,” Hughes said.
Alpha Hiatt, a descendant of the Fain family who visited the site Sunday, said “VDOT did not disturb it, we’re pleased. It was plotted and they took care of it.”
She noted that the current position of the new road will not encroach upon the cemetery.
“If anything, it’s better for us because it’s going to give us better access to our family cemetery because there maybe a little offshoot that will give us access,” Hiatt said.
“I’m satisfied that it’s going to go on the other side and not disturb the cemetery because that’s my ancestors that came over here, the first Fain’s that came,” June Williams, a member of the Fain family, said Sunday.
She also said the cemetery appeared to be undisturbed.
“It does need cleaning up and those trees need to be cut down. Maybe we can” schedule a workday “this fall when all the undergrowth is dead,” she said.
With the sample work completed, Handy said the project is now in the design phase.
“There is no need” for boring crews “to go back in this area. I don’t anticipate a need for additional heavy equipment” to be in or near the vicinity.
Handy said VDOT plans to build retaining walls near two other cemeteries to ensure workers stay clear.
He added that all of the known cemeteries have been flagged, and none are being impacted by the contractor’s work.
Hughes also said she believes all the cemeteries in the area have been identified. However, she asked to be notified if anyone knows about other cemeteries near the project.
“Unless there’s something up here that we don’t know about, and if there are please, and that’s what I’ve been telling everybody, please let us know,” Handy said. “As of right now, we’re not impacting any of the cemeteries. All the ones we’ve known, we’re avoiding. They’re flagged on the plans.”
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