Charlotte and Marie - Honestly, I did not find any horrific conditions in the old cemetery - its like a world unto its own... not even a part of the new cemetery which is pock marked with new graves of the recently slain victims/members of the drug culture in the housing.. I went with the idea of moving my ancestor back to the family cemetery in Banks Co., Ga., not knowing then of the hasty and otherwise disgusting manner of the burial of the soldiers. I kept researching and also found someone with a website saying how disgusting the present state of the cemetery is, however I am not even sure he was in the same place I visited. Yes, I can see the abandoned bldgs. of the vacated housing, but just the roofs and just barely... otherwise, it was clean, I found no disfigured markers, there were undisturbed Confederate flags on some of the graves, and I felt a 'calm' and peace overcome my previous trepidation. It took just a few minutes of standing there and I decided that David was where he should be - with his fellow soldiers. What caused this then elderly, 47, man to join the Army when he did not have to join? I had to mull all that through my head, and the answer I came up with was that he wanted to! He craved the excitement and the camaraderie! of young men headed for battle, and he believed in the cause. David owned no slaves - never did - his father did but his father died when he was 14 and was a Rev. War veteran. David did not take to farming so he moved to the city and took a job as supervisor of street laborers. No, I would not disturb his rest, even had I been able to identify his bones, which would have required expensive DNA, I would leave him where he knew he might wind up when he left Ga., in a common grave with fellow soldiers. As we turned to leave, I vowed to mark his grave so all would know his name, and I softly whispered, not just to David, but the hundreds of unmarked graves, 'Rest in peace, old soldier, your job is done'. Next time I went back a gleaming bronze marker had been installed in the place where David's head rested in the hard clay of Virginia - not unlike the clay of Georgia - the same, yet different, as were all those men who lay there, side by side, bone touching bone, and I felt pride - pride in all of them, and pride in myself for finding him after all these years! Go, visit Oakwood - close your eyes as you pass through the new cemetery, but be sure to open them as you head down the hill towards the creek - its another world. Merry Christmas everyone! ----- Original Message ----- From: mwj819@aol.com To: VAHANOVE-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 1:16 PM Subject: Re: [VAHANOVE] Discussion on Oakwood Cemetery Charlotte - You describe it just as my mother, Patricia McDonough Walker described it - as she went out there when little and played and picniced at the cemetery that was in walking distance of so many homes. Her grandfather James Allen cut the grass out there with a blade lawnmover (I don't know what you call a lawnmover without a motor) and kept up all of my family members grave sites which I am ashamed to say are not in very good condition today. It is a disgrace to all of our ancestors not just at Oakwood but at the other city owned cemeteries for the way they are kept up. That is one reason at my mothers death a few years back we picked Mt. Calvary which is kept very nice and is not owned by the city!! I have visited most of the city owned one and I think Oakwood is the worse! Marie -----Original Message----- From: Charlotte Geier <chargerfree@mindspring.com> To: VAHANOVE-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 07:57:36 -0700 Subject: [VAHANOVE] Discussion on Oakwood Cemetery Recent discussions on the condition of Oakwood Cemetery have saddened me greatly. I well remember as a child in the 50's, visiting often this then well-manicured and 'perpetually' maintained cemetery in which my paternal great grandmother, grandmother and uncles are buried. There was always a feeling of gracefulness and quiet peace and dignity to this 'resting place' - this land which my great grandmother, Emily Cooke Shore Watkins sold to the city of Richmond August 16, 1854. We were not permitted to walk on any graves back then, though as children we were often awestruck at some of the magnificent grave monuments. The last I heard, a marker for one of my uncles is missing, and someone has cut down the gentle white lilac shrub my grandmother planted at the head of her youngest son's grave. There are supposedly one or two spaces left in grandmother's lot, and I had often imagined I might rest in peace there one day with the Woody's Funeral Home officiating as they have for! a! ll family members buried there. Hearing of the deterioration of Oakwood and its surroundings makes that sound not so desireable now. For reasons unknown to us descendants, our CSA veteran grandfather, Robert Dandridge Clarke chose to be buried in 1916 at his home, 'Old Tavern Farm' in Quinton, New Kent County rather than in Oakwood. Charlotte Clarke Geier ==== VAHANOVE Mailing List ==== NOTICE: Posting of virus warnings, test messages, chain letters, political announcements, current events, items for sale, personal messages, flames, etc. (in other words - spam) is NOT ALLOWED and will be grounds for removal. 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