Caroline genealogists and snake-fearers -- There is no need to be paranoid about snakes. Nearly all species in Virginia and the South in general are harmless (in fact, beneficial). None will bother you unless you bother them, advertently or inadvertently. The inadvertent part is where the advice of several earlier posters comes in -- avoid stepping on them or right next to them, and you are completely safe -- they will not come after you, knowing a bad bet when they see one. After all, if a 1000 foot tall creature came walking through your neighborhood would you try to bite it, or would you scamper out of the way? ;-) So, watch where you are walking and you'll be fine. if you are in thick weeds where you cannot see your feet, wear heavy boots that go partway up your calves. As for ticks and chiggers, that is a harder story. Chiggers are small mites (essentially invisible) that try to to suck your blood (like ticks) but human immune systems react strongly to them -- which means that the chigger is quickly killed (smothered and then assimilated). The only problem is that it leaves an itchy spot (much like a mosquito bite, although some people have stronger reactions to chiggers than to mosquitos) -- so it's a bad deal for the person and for the chigger. Ticks can carry various diseases -- in order to transmit them they have to be attached for nearly a day. Take precautions like tucking your pants legs in your socks, using an insect repellant that works against ticks and chiggers is a good idea (DEET does not) -- though some people fear that the repellants are more harmful than the ticks. Take a shower as soon as practical after being out in the woods or grassy fields, and check (ideally with the help of a friend) those hard to see places (armpits, head hair, etc.). Statistically, you are much MUCH more likely to be harmed every day you drive a car (such as driving to that cemetery in Caroline, especially along I-95) than by snakes, ticks, chiggers, or any other wild creature! -- a southern field biologist with ancestors from Caroline, Louisa, and Hanover (Beadles, White, Harris, Lipscomb, Jones, Goodwin, Doswell, West, ...). P.S. Anyone descended from the Harrises and Overtons (such as William Harris and Temperance Overton) should consider visiting the old graveyard (variously referred to as Old Cedar Hill Burying Ground, The Cedars, the Harris graveyard, Cedar Hill) on the property of Kings Dominion Amusement Park. Temperance herself (died 1716) is buried there. The graveyard is within distant sound and sight of the roller-coasters, and right next to a water-tower, but still manages to be a quiet and remarkable place, with giant cedars (and a 5 foot diameter tulip tree) which must have been there when Temperance and others were buried there nearly 300 years ago.