Cedrus virginiana aka the Eastern Red Cedar is an old-timey favorite tree among Virginians. Why? Because it was plentiful and being cedar almost indestructable. Here in Tidewater Virginia and, I assume, throughout other parts of Virginia too, it was used for fence posts since it will not rot. I do not know whether or not the famous split rail fences used by early Virginia colonists were made of cedar or pine but it would be interesting to find out. As far as cemetary use, I know that there is an old a lovely cemetary in Williamsburg called Cedar Grove Cemetary and it has hundreds of old, gnarled and beautiful Virginia Red Cedars growing throughout it. I think that Virginians liked to use the red Cedar because it is evergreen and has pretty blue-green berries during certain times of the year, so if some were growing in a cemetary they were left standing. I remember when I was growing up that my grandfather, who lived on a farm in Henrico County, used to cut down a Red Cedar to drag in the house and use as a Christmas tree. They do not make a very pretty Christmas tree by today's standards because of their shape. I think that, perhaps, another reason for encouraging cedars in a cemetary might be because that particular tree has a long tap root that goes down straight and deep into the ground and does not have a wide spreading set of superficial roots that would disturb graves or make digging new graves difficult as would, say, a large pine tree. The long tap root makes it difficult to transplant a red cedar but the little volunteers that sprout up can be carefully dug, potted up and eventually planted somewhere. That has been my method of planting the cedar tree, which is one of my sentimental favorites, in a special spot....like at the entrance to my driveway where I planted 2 of them years ago. Deane F. Mills York County, VA > We are in the process of cleaning up and restoring an old family cemetery > (first known burial in 1796) in southeastern Patrick County. Within the rock > wall enclosing the cemetery there are several tree stumps. Two of these had > pushed two headstones (husband & wife buried beside each other) out of > alignment and very uneven. Prior to correcting this situation we decided to > remove the two stumps which both had the centers completed decayed to below > the surface of the ground (as much as 2/3rd or possible 3/4th). Both stumps > were cutoff by a saw at 10 inches above the ground (prior to a 1974 picture > of the cemetery that he have) and one stump measured 20 inches across at its > narrowest point and 23 inches at the widest at the cutoff point. The larger > stump measured at the same point 26 inches at the narrowest and 31 inches at > the widest. OUR SURPRISE WAS THAT BOTH WERE CEDAR TREES. > I would like some information on the following: > 1). How prevalent in Patrick County were cedar trees in Patrick County > in the nineteenth century? Today? > 2). How common were cedar trees in cemeteries, and if very, why? > 3). Is the diameter of the tree stumps cited above large for this type > of tree (Eastern Red Cedar)? What diameters have you seen? > 4). Can any estimate or guess of age of tree when cut be made from > the diameter of the stumps? > Larry > > > > > > ==== VA-SOUTHSIDE Mailing List ==== > USGenWeb Archives Census Project > http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/census/ > > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry's Library - The best collection of family history > learning and how-to articles on the Internet. > http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library >

Correction: According to Michael A. Dirr who is the Chair at the University of Georgia Department of Horticulture in Athens, Georgia and the author of the MANUAL OF WOODY LANDSCAPE PLANTS THEIR IDENTIFICATION ORNAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS, CULTURE, PROPAGATION AND USES, the tree that is locally called the Virginia Red Cedar is actually Juniperus virginiana....or Eastern Redcedar. So, the tree is not a cedar but is in the juniper family. Deane Mills