May 02 2008
Past and Present
While in Whitesville a couple of days ago I had the opportunity to visit another old cemetery. This one is located on the side of the mountain between Whitesville and Sylvester.
This site was full of anonymity. Each burial site marked with a stone. Someone had been kind enough to mark a couple of the sites with wooden crosses. The crosses are only a few years old. I believe these particular crosses held a different meaning when they were put here than the meaning a cross is normally meant to portray. They are here to let someone know there is a grave here.
This site sits within yards of an overland coal belt and likewise from a train yard.
An overland belt is used to take coal over and through the mountains (from a mine to a prep plant in this case) by belt when trucking the coal isn’t feasible.
I get into sites like the old graveyard and I really can’t help but think about the history buried there. These are people buried here and they did something in their life. I often wonder what that something was. My friend Mountainsaver was with me and he said there used to be a tombstone here that had the name B.D. White on it. The town of Whitesville was said to be founded by D.B. White. A coincidence maybe? I’m beginning to not believe in coincidences. I did wonder what happened to the tombstone because there was none but rocks there now.
4 Responses to “Past and Present”
Graveyards and grave sites do tend to have a certain amount of mystery entwined within them……and I’m sure that the one you stumbled upon carries much more then that….i can’t help to think of the lives of those who rest there, the things they did when they lived, the things they may not haver had the opportunity to experience…it expands my own mind to look at the bigger picture that lies within all of us.
I’m with you Morgan - I tend to get caught in a time warp.
Thats really interesting. I wonder how many old grave sites around that area are being obliterated by mountain top removal. Seems if someone was to register coordinates to a burial site, no matter how many people are buried there, that would make the coal company have to maintain their distance from the site. There could be hundreds of 2 person gravesites all around that area. I know of a few like that in Lincoln county, just one is where my Great Great grandparents are buried. Would that not justify them from not blowing up the area close to a grave site if the coordinates were registered?
I think that is the way it works Dennie. I also believe this site is registered because it is surrounded by a fence. If I’m not badly mistaken they are allowed no closer than 100 feet and there is a bill or was a bill that would change that to 1000 feet. Not sure of the bill’s status.