This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Eanes/Keatts Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/3AC.2ACE/1409.4 Message Board Post: Mike, do you have any resources or advice for anyone related to the endangered cemeteries. Are there specific laws in that area that pertain to private sites? I am aware of two sites of particular interest to me in the Pittsylvania County area. My great-great-grandparents are buried in a very old small plot on the side of Whispering Pines (Rt 841) Rd near Brosville. It is between two small modern houses, but the last time I was down that way they had nice large newer stones and the only problem was their location at that time, but at least they could be seen from the road. Since my grandmother sold my deceased grandfather's farm on the same road and moved to Danville I now wonder about our family plots on the property. My grandfather was only buried there in April 2001. I was told the new owners have the family name but am not familiar with them and aren't sure if they are even in our family line. My ability to travel to the area is extremely limited at this point but ! I am concerned. I also wonder about any other small family plots that might be directly connected to me as I have no idea if there are any other small plots connected to me. What recourse do descendants in that area have to preserve those endangered cemeteries and others? Is there any foundation, society, or group to help support the preservation of such sites? Are these all not historical in nature as each and everyone buried in Pittsylvania is part of its history,past, present, and future? I am glad to hear that the societies are transcribing where they can. Is there a portion of any society that would help preserve and protect these sites? Many years ago when I worked temporarily at a privately owned public cemetery in MD they often used the fear of abandoned private cemeteries to frighten people into buying their plots. That same fear left me burying my own stillborn son in a church cemtery when we lived up in MD instead of our family plot in Pittsylvania County many y! ears ago. Maybe it was a wise decision, but I stil care about your loc al sites as they are part of my past too. I have to admit that church cemteries can wind up with some of the same issues at some point, my maternal great-grandfather is lost somewhere in a church cemtery in NJ since he died in 1919, somehow his grave marker was destroyed at somepoint by the elements and the cemetery has lost his records due to a fire, nothing is perfect. One these old cemeteries, where do they cease to be historical and become archealogical? I don't expect anyone to be able to answer all my obnoxious questions. Maybe I can put things out there for others to think about too. Since our culture's handling of death and burial has changed through history maybe we searchers should all be thinking about endangered cemeteries whether they are connected to us personally or not. Maybe we should think about the present and future searchers and find ways to preserve what we can for our own time, not to be morbid, but because someday someone might be looking for you or I! too.