Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407210090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They are asking for volunteers to join them there at 6 Saturday morning and work all day clearing trees, bushes and weeds. The graveyard is in a wooded tract along Liberty Road between Lincoln Terrace Elementary School and Hunt Avenue Northwest.
Joseph Abbott, a Roanoke store and restaurant owner, bought the property at auction last month. The land has been neglected for decades, and Abbott said he did not realize until later that it was a graveyard. Graves of blacks there date to the 1930s, if not earlier.
Abbott has offered to donate most of the forested 11.5-acre tract if an organization can be created to maintain the cemetery. Abbott says he needs only 1 acre of the site to build a convenience store at the corner of Liberty Road and Hunt Avenue.
He said he will provide drinks and sandwiches for the Saturday cleanup.
Thomas Noell, an 80-year-old retired building contractor who lives at Hollins, has practically gone back into full-time work in recent weeks, spreading the news that the burial place of his parents and other relatives might be threatened.
He and Abbott, owner of Valley View Pancake House on Williamson Road, have gotten together to talk about it and have cleared some of the brush from the property.
Abbott said he and his brother go to Lebanon periodically to clear their father's grave, so relatives of people buried at Springwood need not fear any destruction. ``I'm not doing anything to disrespect anybody,'' he said.
Roanoke Public Works Director Bill Clark said the city will haul away debris cleared from the site and that city crews also will clear brush from the right of way the city owns on the edges of the property.
Noell said the burial ground is so soft that bulldozers and other heavy equipment would sink graves and markers, so Saturday's volunteers will work with chain saws, weed trimmers and other hand tools. He asked that volunteers bring rakes and other tools - as well as food and drinks for the workers.
Robert ``Red'' Barbour, commander of Fincastle Rifles, Camp 1326, of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, has been working with Noell. Barbour's organization will send about 20 members to the cleanup.
So far, graves of veterans of World Wars I and II have been found in the cemetery. Barbour said his organization often clears graves of veterans, no matter what war they fought in. ``No veteran should be left in a place like that,'' he said.
Noell's Masonic lodge, St. John's Grand Lodge, also will send volunteers, and a lifesaving crew is planning to be there. Snakes and poison ivy are said to be abundant on the wooded site.
Noell said he got lots of phone calls after news stories appeared about the old cemetery last month. He hopes the people who volunteered then to help him will show up on Saturday.
``If they gave an hour's work, it's all right,'' he said. ``We need help - a lot of help.''
The cleanup begins at 6 a.m. Saturday near Lincoln Terrace Elementary School on Liberty Road Northwest. Parking will be in a field between the school and the cemetery. Thomas Noell is trying to line up tents, in case it rains, and portable toilets.
by CNB