This is sent as an update on how our abandoned cemeteries are turning up. This 18th century graveyard was found between 5th St. and Randolph Rd. in Charlotte, NC next to Mercy Hospital. The Nursing School (a beautiful historic building) was torn down recently and the parking lot dug up to make way for expansion. I remember many times cutting through the area between the Nursing School and Parking lot. In this area was a landscaped garden with a stone path through it. In the center was a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary with a fountain around her. I imagine they knew the cemetery was there in 1916 when the parking lot was paved over and Mary marked the spot. Nina Cobb ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted on Thu, May. 17, 2007 - The Charlotte Observer When lost graves and growth collide Project on hold as hospital relocates 1770s cemetery When Kenny Seymour first scooped the load of red clay, he didn't know his trackhoe had unearthed a headstone dating from the 1770s. But looking closer, he realized he might have uncovered a lost graveyard at the site of an expanding Charlotte hospital. Construction workers such as Seymour are stumbling more and more upon forgotten cemeteries as crews build new homes and businesses across growing North Carolina. No single state agency records how many burial sites or graves have been revealed recently. But John Mintz, assistant state archaeologist, said his office gets two or three calls each week -- more than ever -- about unexpected finds. Few, however, date back as far as the one found at the hospital site. North Carolina has strict laws about how to handle such collisions between the past and future. In the latest case, Carolinas HealthCare System had to stop work at that section of the site just outside uptown. They hired an archaeology firm. They published notices in the newspaper to locate family members. They hired guards to monitor the site 24 hours a day. Estimated cost: $150,000. And, this week, after getting the City Council's approval, archaeologists started the laborious process of digging up the 13 Revolutionary War-era graves that lie under Mercy Hospital's campus. The remains of one the area's first white settlers, Thomas Spratt, and his family will be reburied in a historic cemetery. Then, crews will finish work on the $100 million project of medical offices and a parking deck. Memory vs. records A seventh-generation descendent, Sarah Withers Keesee, 84, has studied her family's history for decades and had suspected the old Spratt cemetery was there, tucked off Randolph Road.But she believed that Mercy Hospital's parking lot covered it in 1916. She didn't know it was being dug up until she saw an Observer story about the discovery of headstones and bones. The Salisbury native started to call family members. Property records should list things such as known burial grounds or underground oil tanks as a buyer-beware warning, because they can turn into a politically charged hassle for developers and construction crews. But sometimes even when descendants can recall the burial sites, the property records show nothing. Earlier this year, more than 50 unmarked graves dating to the early 1800s were discovered on a Caldwell County site where a Wal-Mart and other shops are under construction to become The Shoppes at Rivercrest. The area was farmed for years and the property records didn't indicate any graves existed, said Lauth Property Group spokesman Marc Lotter. But Lauth hired an archaeologist after a local resident suggested graves might exist there. The remains have since been moved to Sunset Hills Cemetery. Sometimes the graves are found before the bulldozers start digging. When UNC Charlotte was thinking about expansion plans in 1995, it found rows of leaf-covered depressions on campus. The likely cemetery could be a relic from when the county's poorhouse stood there, said associate anthropology professor Janet Levy. The graves remain intact, she said. History unearthed Keesee and two siblings watched on Tuesday as Valerie Davis crouched beside a grave at the Mercy Hospital site, carefully scraping away clay from a darkened area of earth in the shape of a casket. Called a grave stain, it occurs where darker topsoil was mixed with deeper clay when the grave shaft was filled during the initial burial. Even though Davis and the other members of the archaeological team from Georgia-based New South Associates have worked around the world, they said they were excited to be on a site predating the existence of the United States. "There's not too many of them around," said Chris Espenshade. "And it's kind of rare for something like this to drop out of sight." They use trowels, bamboo picks and, eventually, small brushes to carefully remove dirt from the grave outlines. They then sift piles of the dirt through a 1/4-inch screen to catch any buttons or fragments lingering in clumps of dirt. All of that soil, along with any skeletal fragments, will then be reburied in an off-site grave, Davis said. As the crew worked Tuesday, mortuary archaeologist Hugh Matternes pointed out a hand-wrought metal nail at the edge of another grave outline. It would have held together the casket, which disintegrated long ago, he explained to Keesee. Then he pointed to a dark line. He said it appeared to be what's left of an arm bone so old that only discolored soil remained. Red clay's acidity eats away at the bones, he said. Keesee and her siblings watched attentively, taking in the outline of their forebearers. "It's a rather emotional thing when you think about how they've been under a parking lot for so long," Keesee said. The family took pictures in their hardhats and thanked the construction crew, archaeologists and hospital officials. They especially had wanted to meet Seymour, the 31-year-old foreman who stopped construction after he scooped up the tombstone. He smiled shyly as Keesee's 66-year-old sister, Elizabeth Withers Smith, shook his hand. "Your help will always be remembered," she told him. Cemetery in Your Backyard? Family burial grounds were commonplace across the South when rural farms covered most of the area. But weeds and brush can easily cover an old gravesite if left unattended for a few years. Headstones may have toppled or wooden crosses may have disintegrated. However, some tell-tale signs that may remain: • Oblong depressions in the earth where the soil sinks as the body and casket decompose. • Cedar trees, which live a long time and have shallow roots, are commonly planted in cemeteries. • Non-native or domesticated plants such as daffodils and periwinkle that may have been planted at a gravesite. Sprot, Sprat, Spratt A man named Thomas Sprot immigrated to what is now the United States from Ireland, then moved from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas. He and his family are believed to have been the first settlers to drive a wagon through the area in 1755 and cross two Native American trading paths that later become known as Trade and Tryon streets. Sprot settled near what is now Randolph Road. The family name evolved to be Sprat, then Spratt. (Many now use the name Spratt for Thomas Sprot.) Barnets, Binghams, Johnsons and McKnights joined into the family. Today, many descendants remain in the area, including U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., and Jane Spratt McColl, the wife of Hugh McColl Jr. The discovery of the cemetery introduced some family members to each other for the first time. At Monday's Charlotte City Council meeting, member Patsy Kinsey realized she's related to the families who sat in front of her, asking for permission to move the graves to Steele Creek Presbyterian Church. And Thomas Spratt V, a 3-year-old who lives in Fort Mill, S.C., marks the 10th generation of male descendants to have lived continuously within 30 miles of the original homestead. Kytja Weir The Charlotte Observer ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.