Saluda, Virginia
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My sons
then went off to explore the woods
around the graveyard and pretty soon returned with the news that there were a
number of old gravestones tumbling down the hill in the tangle of woods not far
from where we stood. And sure enough, almost hidden amongst the brambles we
came upon truly abandoned gravesites.
We could only read the names on three of the stones. The rest were knocked over or half-submerged in the dirt. Who knows how many there really were back there in the underbrush. Who knows where the actual burial places for these stones are. The ground looked like it had been washing down the hill and taking the tombstones with it. It appeared that at one time, there might been a house back there; for we saw groundcovers like periwinkle smothering the area. The names on the gravestones that we could read were Update! Through the help of Pat Perkinson, the Director of the Middlesex County Cemetery Survey Committee, it was discovered that these aged tombstones were just throwaways. New tombstones had been cut and placed in the appropriate cemeteries by the local funeral home and the old tombstones were discarded. In the meantime, to our delight, we have received an unexpected bonus from our interesting little adventure. A telephone call from a distant Bristow cousin will be leading to a December reunion with our cousins in Saluda and Urbanna.
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