Old County Cemetery
A "Hole" in History -
For the Hill & Valley Garden Club's 20th anniversary in 1976, members worked together to clean-up and help maintain this historic cemetery.
At that time, and before, questions began to arise about the ownership of the property and the about the people buried there.
There were lots of rumors, but facts needed to be discovered. This is part of the documentation that was started by Shelby Hadeler and others.
A Hole in History
December 7, 2011
A plot of land just west of Best Western Intown Motel on West Main Street has a scraggly tree which while not significant is interesting because of the land it grew on.
The Hill and Valley Garden Club tended this plot for years and Luray's Parks & Recreation Department provides much help in this regard. Several years ago the tree
was severely damaged by a storm. Pat O'Brien Director of Luray's Parks and Recreation Department tried to find money in order to have the tree pruned and stabilized because there was nothing in his budget for this. He turned to the Page County Tree Board and received $ 800.00 for the pruning.
At this time the question came up: "Why doesn't Luray simply pay for everything because it"belongs to Luray?
Research by Ken Beyer at the Page County Clerk's Office showed that NOBODY owns the property. . It is not on any County record. The plot is a ''Hole in the History'' of Luray and Page County. Rumor and legend says it is a graveyard. There are headstones at the west end of the plot. It's supposed to have unmarked graves of African Americans buried at the east end with no markers. No Cemetery Association exists that collects perpetual care monies for the care of the gravesites.
I've asked Shelby Hadeler,, Hill & Valley Garden Club,, to research the history of this interesting property. She will record time against our VDOF grant 11UCF05 and will talk this up in the garden club.
Despite the "scraggly" oak tree - I think this is a very interesting piece of history and might have something to do with the bi-centennial.
~Ken Beyers
Shelby Hadeler met with Ken and Jean Beyer on the evening of December 9, 2011 with information she had obtained from several sources.
The "A Hole in History" information is shared below.
View of the Old Town Cemetery from the Mimslyn Inn. The Bradford Pear are in bloom.
Cherry Tree with a small bench.
Willow Oak.
Tom Mack (5'9") standing next to tree.
White Oak (approximately 100 yrs old) with ivy roots cut at base. Tom Mack for reference.
Same White Oak.
Remaining Headstones. Names and dates are listed on the bronze plaque.
Old Town Cemetery (County) Plaque of names and dates that were 'legible' on the headstones.
Members and spouses helping to weed the hillside next to the cemetery, above.
Workday with Anderson Window Corp. Volunteers
Old County Cemetery , West Main St. Luray
Cole LaBossiere, Human Resources Coordinator for the Anderson Window Corp., organized a group of eight volunteers
for a community Earth Day project.
Six members of the Hill and Valley Garden Club assisted and directed the volunteers.
Anderson Window and HVGC folks
So many sticks and broken branches.
Anderson Window ladies cleaning out the weedy bank.
Gathering the debris.
So much done with so many hands!
Old Town Cemetery headstones. If we could just get rid of the Bradford Pear trees, more folks could see the Cemetery.
Adelheid supplied delicious snacks afterwards.
Thanks everyone!!!
One goofy picture