ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 26, 1996 TAG: 9612270001
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
THE lot on Giles Avenue in Vinton is an almost hopeless tangle of weeds.
The half-acre plot is covered with saplings of various sizes, some with menancing thorns. The tangle is so thick it is impossible to walk through it without stooping and twisting.
From first appearance it seems the only way to clean up this lot is with vicious sweeps of a bulldozer.
But that would be too harsh. This is not an ordinary overgrown lot.
Officially, the property is known as lots 1 through 5, block 3 of the John T. Franklin property.
Unofficially it is the Gladetown Cemetery - the resting place of an unknown number of former residents of Vinton's Gladetown area.
It requires special attention because the vegetative infestation conceals many untold secrets.
They are secrets that Joe Banks and Darlene Richardson would like to uncover.
Banks, a lifelong resident of the community, is a neighborhood historian and active with the Gladetown Reunion Committee.
Richardson is preservation coordinator with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources office in Roanoke. She is assisting Banks in getting the cemetery back in order.
The long-range aim, she said, is to have the Gladetown Cemetery designated a historic resource.
Before she can make any steps in that direction, however, she must overcome the ownership problem of the property.
Franklin died years ago, and none of his heirs came forward to claim ownership. In fact, records of Franklin's heirs stop about 1906.
"The county [Roanoke County] and Vinton won't claim ownership," Banks said. "It's listed in the county records as 'Cemetery.'"
Gladetown, a mostly black community, is almost in downtown Vinton, along Pollard Street south of Virginia Avenue.
The last burials there were sometime in the 1950s, Banks said. A grave marker close to the street reveals a gravestone with the name R.W. Clark and the date 1954.
Another overgrown marker shows a burial in 1900, but Banks believes there are others much earlier. He said he has no idea how many graves are in the plot.
On a recent visit to the cemetery, Banks uncovered a half-dozen or so gravestones, some overturned and broken. All were made of concrete with simple lettering, but all revealed a bit of history.
The oldest of those found was a Benjamin Bernard, who was born in 1889 and died in 1900. Another was Jane Wood, who died in 1910 at age 73.
Banks said there are many more graves on the property, some, he fears, with no markers. And there are many more gravestones than those visible from the street, Banks said.
Also throughout the property are clumps of lilies and other flowers and climbing roses, Banks said. And there may be some ornamental evergreens, too.
Banks is not sure where the cemetery originated but he thinks it started with a family plot of Franklin, who once owned a number of lots in Gladetown.
"I think it was because the community needed a cemetery, and Franklin just extended his family plot," he said.
He believes the Franklin family plot is now hidden somewhere in the frustrating thicket that stands between the people and some of their ancestors.
Banks said there is a desire to get the property cleaned up, not only because it would give Gladetown a better appearance but also because it would allow residents to visit the gravesites and pay homage to ancestors who deserve a better eternity than a thorny overgrown lot.Over the years people in the community have attempted to keep the cemetery cleared of undergrowth.
But many people in the neighborhood hestitate to put much energy in a cleanup because of the ownership confusion, Banks said. They have the idea they would be trespassing on someone else's property.
"This issue really needs to be resolved," Richardson said, "because the community wants to maintain it."
Banks said the Gladetown Reunion Committee has the personnel and can get the necessary equipment to clean up the property and keep it clean. But the committee won't give an official go-ahead while the ownership is unclear.
Richardson has a double interest in the cemetery. She wants to help the community restore it. Also, it is part of a general cemetery research throughout Roanoke County she is doing for the historic resources office.
Terry Harrington, planning director for Roanoke County, said county records show the Gladetown Cemetery as an escheat property, which means property with no legal heirs.
He said people there can take possession and not have to worry about the ownership.
Paul Mahoney, Roanoke County attorney, said the group would first need to do a title examination of the property in an effort to find an owner of the land.
If no owner can be found, Mahoney said, a Circuit Court judge could give the Gladetown citizens group the right to clean and maintain the cemetery.
Mahoney said that under the Virginia Code any neighborhood property owner, community citizens group or local government could petition the Circuit Court.
Abandoned cemeteries are fairly common, Mahoney said, especially in rural areas where old cemeteries are on remote corners of farms.
The Gladetown cemetery's ownership problem has a parallel in Salem with the East Hill North Cemetery. It was the same situation - an old abandoned and badly overgrown cemetery with no known owners.
Randy Smith, Salem city manager, said that at the request of a group of Salem citizens, City Council agreed to maintain the cemetery without trying to establish ownership.
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. Darlene Richardson (left) of theby CNBHistoric Resources Agency and resident Joe Banks examine tombstones
in Gladetown's abandoned cemetery. color.