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03/09/2008
Facelift for a Civil War cemetery
BY PATRICK KANE
STAFF WRITER
DINWIDDIE — Eighty years after the headstones at Poplar Grove were laid flat to make it easier to mow the grass, upright stones might again mark the final resting places of nearly 7,000 Civil War soldiers.
The National Park Service hopes to conduct a major $2.3 million rehabilitation of the cemetery, founded as a resting ground for Union Civil War casualties in the South.
Poplar Grove was built in the late 1860s on the wartime grounds of the 50th New York Volunteer Engineers. Named for a church that was torn down in 1868, the bodies of 5,196 soldiers from battles including Saylor’s Creek and Appomattox Court House were reinterred there from 1866-67. Only 35 percent of the soldiers buried there were ever identified. Other burials trickled in until 1957, with more than 6,800 gravesites total. Three sets of Civil War remains were buried during a 2003 ceremony.
Poplar Grove has seen better days, said Bob Kirby, superintendent of Petersburg National Battlefield Park, which oversees the cemetery. The last major work done was cutting and setting flat the headstones “in an effort to facilitate mowing and to enhance the appearance of the cemetery,” a Cultural Landscape Report being prepared by the park service reads. The report outlines the history and future plans for Poplar Grove.
“It’s complicated, but long story short we want to re-erect the headstones,” Kirby said. They may keep the old markers and set them flat by the new stones. While the schedule keeps shifting, the Parks Service is looking to fund the project in fiscal year 2012.
Other tasks, Kirby said, are repairing the surrounding walls, fixing the former superintendent’s cottage for possible museum space and new landscaping work. They hope to replace ornamentation, such as three canon displays that were given away over the years. They may push back the current parking lot also, Kirby said.
The end effect is to make Poplar Grove look like it did between 1900 and 1933. The 1890s were a national period of reflection on the Civil War, he said, and many monuments and upgrades were done to cemeteries and battlefields.
“That allows us to retain the [circa 1896] bandstand, which was a nice feature, and allows us to re-erect the cut off headstones,” Kirby explained.
The work has needed to be done for some time, as trees have sprouted up between gravesites, and weeds and grasses have all but obscured many of the stone markers and marble headstones. Roy Appleman, staff historian at what was then called Petersburg National Military Park, wrote in 1957 that “of all the work that needs to be done at Petersburg, this needs most to be done. In fact, I have seen very few jobs to do anywhere in the park system that I think rank in urgency with this one. The Poplar Grove Cemetery is now in a condition that approaches a disgrace,” he wrote in a letter used in the report.
According to the report, the fact that it was a Union cemetery deep in the South contributed to low visitation and neglect.
“Poplar Grove, as was typical of older or inactive cemeteries, became a sleepy place without new burials to infuse new visitation for the recently departed. [A]s a Union burial place, the cemetery did not share the same attraction for local residents as the Confederate burials at Blanford Cemetery in Petersburg,” the report said.
Donald E. Wells, commander of the Sons of Union Veterans Col. James D. Brady Camp 63, said he has ancestors that fought on both sides of the Civil War. The Petersburg native, who now lives in Surry County, is glad to know the renovations are moving forward. He said Poplar Grove will be more historically accurate with gravestones standing up.
“I’m really glad to see it’s happening now. What I’ve seen in the plans, they’re going to do a really good job of it,” he said. “I applaud them for correcting ... and putting things straight as they should be.”
The Dinwiddie cemetery hit the headlines recently when a mock trial was conducted by the National Park Service to determine who rested in one grave. A panel of judges decided that Confederate Sgt. Ivy Ritchie of Albemarle, N.C., is buried there, not Union Sgt. J. Richie of New York, as the site is marked. It was a win for North Carolina’s Sons of Confederate Veterans Ivy Ritchie Camp 1734, whose members have hoped to honor their namesake for years. The SCV camp already honored Ritchie by adopting his name and placing a monument in his family’s graveyard in Stanly County, N.C.
“We will seek to change the headstone to reflect Confederate design and inscription with the proper regiment” when the overall work is done, Kirby said.
Anthony Way, a member of Camp 1734, said they have been involved in plans for the renovation.
“I think it’s shameful that over the years the government’s let it run down like that,” he said of Poplar Grove. His group is also pleased that the cemetery is being fixed up. They recommended several items be replaced, including a Maltese Cross cut from hedges and a series of plaques inscribed with poetry. The camp members have an advance invitation to the rededication, Way said.
Kirby said the Cultural Landscape Report on Poplar Grove will be finished soon, followed by an environmental assessment in October. It will be released to the public this winter, with public comment scheduled for December 2008 or January 2009, Kirby said. They will likely present three plans, plus the option not to do any work.
Wells, whose group counts members down into the Tidewater area, said Poplar Grove will be “an example for other parks” such as Yorktown National Cemetery, where gravestones were also laid flat.
• Patrick Kane may be reached at 722-5155 or pkane@progress-index.com.
©The Progress-Index 2008
Online at: http://www.progress-index.com/site/n...d=462946&rfi=6
Facelift for a Civil War cemetery
BY PATRICK KANE
STAFF WRITER
DINWIDDIE — Eighty years after the headstones at Poplar Grove were laid flat to make it easier to mow the grass, upright stones might again mark the final resting places of nearly 7,000 Civil War soldiers.
The National Park Service hopes to conduct a major $2.3 million rehabilitation of the cemetery, founded as a resting ground for Union Civil War casualties in the South.
Poplar Grove was built in the late 1860s on the wartime grounds of the 50th New York Volunteer Engineers. Named for a church that was torn down in 1868, the bodies of 5,196 soldiers from battles including Saylor’s Creek and Appomattox Court House were reinterred there from 1866-67. Only 35 percent of the soldiers buried there were ever identified. Other burials trickled in until 1957, with more than 6,800 gravesites total. Three sets of Civil War remains were buried during a 2003 ceremony.
Poplar Grove has seen better days, said Bob Kirby, superintendent of Petersburg National Battlefield Park, which oversees the cemetery. The last major work done was cutting and setting flat the headstones “in an effort to facilitate mowing and to enhance the appearance of the cemetery,” a Cultural Landscape Report being prepared by the park service reads. The report outlines the history and future plans for Poplar Grove.
“It’s complicated, but long story short we want to re-erect the headstones,” Kirby said. They may keep the old markers and set them flat by the new stones. While the schedule keeps shifting, the Parks Service is looking to fund the project in fiscal year 2012.
Other tasks, Kirby said, are repairing the surrounding walls, fixing the former superintendent’s cottage for possible museum space and new landscaping work. They hope to replace ornamentation, such as three canon displays that were given away over the years. They may push back the current parking lot also, Kirby said.
The end effect is to make Poplar Grove look like it did between 1900 and 1933. The 1890s were a national period of reflection on the Civil War, he said, and many monuments and upgrades were done to cemeteries and battlefields.
“That allows us to retain the [circa 1896] bandstand, which was a nice feature, and allows us to re-erect the cut off headstones,” Kirby explained.
The work has needed to be done for some time, as trees have sprouted up between gravesites, and weeds and grasses have all but obscured many of the stone markers and marble headstones. Roy Appleman, staff historian at what was then called Petersburg National Military Park, wrote in 1957 that “of all the work that needs to be done at Petersburg, this needs most to be done. In fact, I have seen very few jobs to do anywhere in the park system that I think rank in urgency with this one. The Poplar Grove Cemetery is now in a condition that approaches a disgrace,” he wrote in a letter used in the report.
According to the report, the fact that it was a Union cemetery deep in the South contributed to low visitation and neglect.
“Poplar Grove, as was typical of older or inactive cemeteries, became a sleepy place without new burials to infuse new visitation for the recently departed. [A]s a Union burial place, the cemetery did not share the same attraction for local residents as the Confederate burials at Blanford Cemetery in Petersburg,” the report said.
Donald E. Wells, commander of the Sons of Union Veterans Col. James D. Brady Camp 63, said he has ancestors that fought on both sides of the Civil War. The Petersburg native, who now lives in Surry County, is glad to know the renovations are moving forward. He said Poplar Grove will be more historically accurate with gravestones standing up.
“I’m really glad to see it’s happening now. What I’ve seen in the plans, they’re going to do a really good job of it,” he said. “I applaud them for correcting ... and putting things straight as they should be.”
The Dinwiddie cemetery hit the headlines recently when a mock trial was conducted by the National Park Service to determine who rested in one grave. A panel of judges decided that Confederate Sgt. Ivy Ritchie of Albemarle, N.C., is buried there, not Union Sgt. J. Richie of New York, as the site is marked. It was a win for North Carolina’s Sons of Confederate Veterans Ivy Ritchie Camp 1734, whose members have hoped to honor their namesake for years. The SCV camp already honored Ritchie by adopting his name and placing a monument in his family’s graveyard in Stanly County, N.C.
“We will seek to change the headstone to reflect Confederate design and inscription with the proper regiment” when the overall work is done, Kirby said.
Anthony Way, a member of Camp 1734, said they have been involved in plans for the renovation.
“I think it’s shameful that over the years the government’s let it run down like that,” he said of Poplar Grove. His group is also pleased that the cemetery is being fixed up. They recommended several items be replaced, including a Maltese Cross cut from hedges and a series of plaques inscribed with poetry. The camp members have an advance invitation to the rededication, Way said.
Kirby said the Cultural Landscape Report on Poplar Grove will be finished soon, followed by an environmental assessment in October. It will be released to the public this winter, with public comment scheduled for December 2008 or January 2009, Kirby said. They will likely present three plans, plus the option not to do any work.
Wells, whose group counts members down into the Tidewater area, said Poplar Grove will be “an example for other parks” such as Yorktown National Cemetery, where gravestones were also laid flat.
• Patrick Kane may be reached at 722-5155 or pkane@progress-index.com.
©The Progress-Index 2008
Online at: http://www.progress-index.com/site/n...d=462946&rfi=6
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