Discovery of a possible Civil War era cemetery on a hill behind Wal mart could have an impact on the retailer's proposal for a new center behind the current one. The possible cemetery was discovered by WalMart employee Dennis Stewart as he walked the property once owned by the Layman family of Athens According to tax records the property on Layman Rd. is now listed in the name of First Mortagage Co of naples Fl c/a a GA McHale of Ft. Myers. The WalMart Corp has not as yet acquired the property. A firsthand look at the site shows at least one square uncut sandstone rock that bears the resemblance of a headstone set in a sunken area. Additional scattered uncut rocks could also have been attempts at marking burial spots. "I found the cemetery as I was walking the site", Stewart said. "As a cemetery preservationist, I recognized the plot of ground as a burial site by instinct because graves sink in and always point east to west. Some of these are sunken and at one time there may have been many field stones set at the site." According to McMinn County Historical and Heritage Society President Rex Moses, the property was once owned by a Steve Reeder who died in 1861 and the land continued to pass through the hands of other owners, including the Layman family. "We knew there was a Sivels-Vestal Cemetery in the area and it was last located in WPA records around 1939. However, when we attempted to add it to our Cemetery Book records, we couldn't find it. We believe this location is that cemetery," Moses sid. Stewart said he immediately began research after he found the first graves and he has also come to believe the site is the old Sivels-Vestal Cemetery recorded in the 1930's WPZ survey. The location matches that survery, Stewart said. Stewart provided a copy from the "McMinn County, Tennessee Tombstone Inscriptions Vol. 2, 1939 List". The record describes the Sivels or Vestal Farm Cemetery on page 210 "This cemetery was started during the war of 1861-1865 when several soldiers, who were stationed nearby, died with small pox and were buried on the farm owned by Steve Reeder,"stated the 1939 record.heree are no markers but there are about 25 graves. The location is on Decatur Pike three miles west of Athens on the farm of John Vestal. The following names and information were secured by Mrs. Sarah Edgmon, who is 90 ears old and lives nearby." The record further notes the names of two sisters who died of small pox in 1863 and are buried in the cemetery. These are Margaret Sivels, age 40 and Polly sivels Pike, age 38. A note in the record also indicates that the parents of the Sivels sisters died about the same time in 1863, also of small pox, at about 60 years of age. Stewart said the former fenced area may contain as many as 33 to 50 graves. He has spoken with David Robinette, the president of Site, Inc. of Knoxville, whose civil engineering firm has worked for WalMart and investigated the site. According to Stewart, "His (Robinette's) people also did a deed search and found the cemetery recorded on the Reeder property" in the 1930's WPA survey. That record was the last time it was found, Stewart said. "The graves may be those of the Civil War soldiers who died of smallpox, but we're not sure if they were Union or Confederate soldiers. Some of the older graves may be civilians, including children. But if these are soldiers buried at that site, there could be federal implications," Stewart suggested. State Archaeologist Nick Fielder has shown interest in the cemetery and has plans to visit Athens in the next few weeks and appraise the authenticity of the site. "I have spoken with Wal mart's Real Estate Division and their position is that they are not sure the cemetery is actually there. I'll make a trip to Athens to determine if this is a cemetery and I'll also check the deeds. The state has had some limited success with ground penetrating radar in making determinations," Fielder said. A Call to Wal Marts district office in Hamilton County had not been returned by press time this morning. WalMart has not yet purchased the property, but if a purchase were made by any commercial developer the verification of it as a cemetery site would only allow the purchaser the following options, according to Fielder. Because destroying the cemetery would be illegal, according to state law, a developer could work around the graves, perhaps enclosing the site within a shopping center as has occurred with a cemetery in the Brainerd area of Chattanooga. A second option would be for the developer to petition the Chancery Court that a cemetery was not in alignment with his purpose for the land and request permission at his own espense, to disinter and reinter the remains of the graves into other grave sites. The only third option would be to leave the site intact and choose another property for development, Fielder said. Joyce G. Reece, Director/Site Coordinator Etowah Senior Center