F.Y.I. - The total body count of remains removed was over 130 by early this evening. Sheri Millikin Excavation startles residents Hanover subdivision site of 111 graves http://www.timesdispatch.com/vametro/MGBO48955YC.html BY BOB PIAZZA TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 26, 2002 The excavation of more than 100 unmarked graves in part of an affluent Mechanicsville subdivision has some residents crying foul. Workers for a Hanover County burial-vault company, Burruss Vaults, said yesterday that they were under a court order to move the remains. The remains, in what was apparently a small graveyard, are being moved from the Pebble Creek subdivision off U.S. 360 to a nearby cemetery. "When you get a blanket order to move a cemetery, you move everybody in it," said a Burruss representative, who would not identify himself. He said no one responded to a published advertisement seeking information about those buried in the graves. Todd Rogers, a manager for PMG-One, the subdivision developer, said that before lots were sold, the company checked to see if there were any cemeteries on the site. He said none was found in what was then a 200-acre field that had been farmland. "If we would have found the remains while we were doing the roads or whatever, we would have taken the same steps that we are taking now," Rogers said. Still, some residents are upset that they were not told about the graves. "The people around me as neighbors are very upset because nobody has told us about the grave sites," one homeowner said. "When you have $200,000 to $300,000 invested in a home, it's like you want the best, and you turn around and here you are on top of grave sites." Burruss workers were digging with shovels and heavy equipment yesterday at two lots near the intersection of Lake Haven and Green Haven drives. Rogers said a builder found the skeletal remains of two people on the two lots more than a year ago, and PMG-One then obtained a Circuit Court order for the removal and reburial of any remains found on the lots. Rogers said the workers have been at the site for about two weeks and have found 111 graves. He said the excavation should be finished soon. He said he had no way of identifying the remains. The area saw heavy activity during the Civil War, but Rogers said no indications were found that the graves belonged to Civil War soldiers. Hanover Deputy County Administrator John Hodges said it is not unusual to find unmarked grave sites in rural areas. He said that when builders come across graves, they typically leave them alone or get a court order to move them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Contact Bob Piazza at (804) 559-8408 or [email protected]