BBC Gossip
  • Home
  • Health
  • News
  • Crime
  • Local News
  • People
  • Guest Post
BBC Gossip
BBC Gossip
  • Home
  • News
  • Health
  • People
  • Celebrities
  • Crime
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Guest Post
Home Old burial sites are being relocated to clear space for a new industrial area, causing various reactions.
  • Local News

Old burial sites are being relocated to clear space for a new industrial area, causing various reactions.

    Black graves are being moved to make way for an industrial park, drawing a mix of emotions
    Up next
    NEW: Zelensky Goes on a Tweet Storm, and It's Likely Going to Make Things Much Worse
    UPDATED: Zelensky’s Twitter Rant Could Escalate the Situation
    Published on 01 March 2025
    Author
    BBC Gossip

    DANVILLE, Va. – The decision to relocate the remains of hundreds of African American tenant farmers from a former Virginia tobacco plantation to a designated burial ground has stirred a variety of feelings among the descendants of the sharecroppers.

    Some express concern about the potential consequences of disturbing the graves of individuals who were oppressed and enslaved. Others express the hope that the remains can be identified and laid to rest with more dignity than they received during their lifetimes.

    The largely anonymous remains are being transferred from a location that was once associated with one of the largest slave-holding enterprises in the country, in order to clear the area for an industrial park.

    When they were buried they weren’t considered fully human, but now they are “patriots who are coming out of their graves with equal rights in 2025,” one descendant, Cedric Hairston, said.

    Archaeologists have already started exhuming the approximately 275 plots, and some of the remains of tenant farmers and their families are already in a funeral home but will be moved to the new burial site about a mile away. Officials have been consulting with descendants about genetic testing on unidentified remains as well as designs for the new cemetery, including a memorial archway.

    “I don’t think anybody would want their ancestors exhumed or moved,” said Jeff Bennett, whose great-great-great grandfather was buried at the plantation. “But for them to give us a lot of say so in the new cemetery, down to the design details and the plaques and memorials that we put up, I feel like (they’re) really doing it in a dignified way, in a respectful way.”

    African American cemeteries have suffered neglect, abandonment and destruction over the centuries. But efforts to preserve them are gaining momentum, with communities unearthingand rebuilding these crucial links to past generations.

    While generally supportive of the project to move the graves, Hairston worries about the indignity of exhuming the graves of people who were brutalized as slaves and exploited as sharecroppers.

    “It just seems that 100 or so odd years after their death, there’s still no rest,” he said.

    The largest enslaver in the South

    Oak Hill was part of a family empire that enslaved thousands of people across 45 plantations and farms in four states, according to “The Hairstons,” a 1999 book by Henry Wiencek that chronicles the Black and white Hairston families.

    Samuel Hairston, the plantation’s owner, was reputedly the largest enslaver in the South, Wiencek wrote.

    But the grand property has stood mostly empty and unused since sharecropping ended last century. The 1820s plantation house was destroyed by fire in 1988.

    Many who were enslaved at Oak Hill left after emancipation, Wiencek wrote. Those who remained as tenant farmers were often cheated of wages and faced crushing poverty and sometimes violence in the Jim Crow South.

    Some tenant farmers took the Hairston surname, in part because “we had no other name to identify with, as the government was collecting data for the census. We brought no last name with us from Africa,” Cedric Hairston said, adding, “Many of our women carried and birthed a Hairston child, never with the support of the law to report that they were raped.”

    The search for Fleming Adams Sr.

    One of the sharecroppers was Fleming Adams Sr., Bennett’s great-great-great grandfather. Known as “Flem,” he was born into slavery on another plantation in 1830. He later worked at Oak Hill, where he had to duck through doorways because he was so tall, Bennett said.

    Adams and his wife Martha raised three sons — George, Daniel and Flem Jr. — before he died in 1916. His death certificate lists his burial place as Oak Hill.

    “My hope is that we can discover where Flem is,” Bennett said. “He was 7 feet tall, so they’d be looking for a bigger coffin. And hopefully there’d be enough of his remains where they could do a DNA sample.”

    Most of the graves in the two secluded sharecropper cemeteries were marked only by moss-covered stones without inscriptions. Rows of depressions in the earth showed where the wooden coffins had collapsed below. Needles from loblolly pines covered many of the plots.

    ‘Open to anything and everything’

    A public entity, the Pittsylvania-Danville Regional Industrial Facility Authority, acquired 3,500 acres (1,400 hectares) of land that included the former Oak Hill plantation, and Tennessee-based Microporous announced in November it would build a $1.3 billion battery production facility there. It expects to create 2,000 jobs.

    Virginia’s Department of Historical Resources granted a permit in late November to move the graves, noting that relocation is consistent with the desires of the descendant families. Bennett and others visited the sites in December.

    Silence fell as they walked into the first cemetery. J.D. Adams, an Oak Hill descendant, said a historical marker must be placed there.

    “We need some time in order to determine what it is we want and how we want it,” Adams told Matt Rowe, Pittsylvania County’s economic development director.

    Rowe replied: “I’m open to anything and everything.”

    The industrial authority has raised $1.3 million from logging the land to fund the project, which is being handled by engineering and consulting company WSP.

    WSP’s archaeologist, John Bedell, said everything would be collected from each grave shaft, even if it is mostly soil, and transferred to its new space, including the stone that marked it.

    The firm hopes to finish transferring the graves by early March. Work on the new burial site and a dedication ceremony will follow in the coming months.

    Mementos of past lives

    Bennett and others recently viewed personal items found in the graves. Protected in plastic bags, they included eyeglasses, a medicine bottle and a 5-cent coin from 1836. One man was buried with a light bulb, socket and electrical cord. Another man’s grave was lined with bricks, indicating he was wealthy, Bennet said.

    Those bricks will be repurposed at the new burial site, possibly in the memorial archway, and inscribed with the names of the deceased, he said.

    Descendants are reviewing funeral home records to try to identify those buried in unmarked graves. Given the challenging nature of the task, they may inscribe the names of everyone who lived in the area.

    “I feel like we’re reemphasizing the significance of our ancestors,” Bennett said. “It’s been generations since people used that area to bury people. And now we’re rediscovering their stories. And hopefully we can continue to tell those stories to the next generations.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

    You May Also Like
    Britain is getting a defense boost aimed at sending a message to Moscow, and to Trump
    • Local News

    UK is increasing defense capabilities to show strength to Russia and the US President

    LONDON – The United Kingdom is set to construct new nuclear-powered attack…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 2, 2025
    Milky Way's chance of colliding with galaxy billions of years from now? New study puts odds at 50-50
    • Local News

    Study Reveals Milky Way’s 50-50 Chance of Colliding with Another Galaxy in the Future

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – It turns out that looming collision between our…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 2, 2025
    I-X Center will no longer host exhibition events, city of Cleveland plans to lure Fortune 500 company to building
    • Local News

    Cleveland’s I-X Center to stop hosting exhibitions, looks to attract Fortune 500 company to the site

    Cleveland City Council approved a revised lease on Monday to potentially bring…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 3, 2025
    Florida woman killed 6-year-old son while ‘casting out demons’ during exorcism, sheriff says
    • Local News

    Sheriff states Florida woman caused death of 6-year-old son while performing exorcism to remove demons

    A Florida woman killed her 6-year-old son while she “was trying to…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 2, 2025
    Six hospitalized after Gatlinburg crash
    • Local News

    Six people taken to the hospital following a crash in Gatlinburg

    A spokesperson for the Gatlinburg Police Department said the crash was reported…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 2, 2025
    Israel says 3 soldiers killed in Gaza in deadliest attack on its forces since a truce ended in March
    • Local News

    Israel reports that three soldiers were killed in Gaza in the most fatal attack on its forces since a truce concluded in March.

    KHAN YUNIS – The Israeli military has reported the death of three…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 3, 2025
    70+ birthday freebies, discounts from Orlando-area businesses
    • Local News

    “Enjoy Over 70 Birthday Freebies and Discounts in Orlando!”

    For those who are financially savvy, enjoy using coupons, and always seek…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 2, 2025
    Suspect in Pearl Street attack, injuring 8 people, was in the U.S. illegally: Department of Homeland Security
    • Local News

    Unauthorized person injured 8 individuals in Pearl Street assault: Homeland Security Department

    BOULDER, Colo. — The suspect in Sunday afternoon’s Pearl Street attack, injuring…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 2, 2025
    Summerfield man ejected, killed after crashing into vehicle he was trying to pass, troopers say
    • Local News

    Fatal Crash: Summerfield Man Ejected and Killed While Attempting to Pass Vehicle, According to Troopers

    A 38-year-old man from Summerfield lost his life in a tragic accident…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 2, 2025
    Natalie McDaniel, wife of Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren, faces lawsuit over allegations of bigoted remarks
    • Local News

    Lawsuit filed against Natalie McDaniel, spouse of Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren, for making discriminatory comments

    • BBC Gossip
    • June 2, 2025
    South Koreans vote for new president in wake of Yoon's ouster over martial law
    • Local News

    New South Korean President to be Elected Following Yoon’s Removal for Martial Law Proposal

    SEOUL – Today, millions of South Koreans are participating in voting to…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 2, 2025

    Recent Posts

    • Jamie Foxx shares his thoughts on Diddy during the rapper’s trial for sex trafficking
    • “Manly NRL Club Considers Banning Fans from Games Following Controversial Viral Video”
    • Advocate for suicide pod dies by suicide following arrest for killing woman who used the device he endorsed
    • Hundreds of California bar exam students pass after score adjustment
    • The spouse of the deceased King of the Hill actor alleges that the murder was motivated by homophobia.
    Jamie Foxx reveals exactly how he feels about Diddy amid rapper's sex trafficking trial
    • US

    Jamie Foxx shares his thoughts on Diddy during the rapper’s trial for sex trafficking

    Jamie Foxx has spoken out again about Diddy, making it clear what…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 3, 2025
    Manly Sea Eagles CEO Tony Mestrov has threatened to ban footy fans who take part in the dangerous 'Run It Straight' social media trend at future NRL home games out of Brookvale Oval
    • AU

    “Manly NRL Club Considers Banning Fans from Games Following Controversial Viral Video”

    Tony Mestrov, the CEO of the Manly Sea Eagles, has issued a…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 3, 2025
    Suicide pod activist takes his own life after being arrested for murder of woman who used the Sarco pod he promoted
    • News

    Advocate for suicide pod dies by suicide following arrest for killing woman who used the device he endorsed

    An individual who supported euthanasia and was questioned by homicide investigators…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 3, 2025

    Hundreds of California bar exam students pass after score adjustment

    After scrutiny by a California Bar committee, over 200 individuals who completed…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 3, 2025
    BBC Gossip
    • Home
    • Privacy Policy
    • News
    • Local News
    • Health
    • Crime
    • Guest Post