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Bones at Evergreen Cemetery
My wife and I were driving around, exploring the area and just stumbled on the Four Cemeteries at Evergreen, super neat place to drive-through if you’re bored. If I ever saw this place in a movie I’d think, “Real cemeteries never look like that!” before today. The odd 45 degree angled graves poking out from behind trees and wrapped in dried vines, the old and mangled rusted iron fence sections scattered all about, it’s as though it were by design.
While we were scouting around, we found something a little more creepy than expected, a pile of bones in front of a grave!
I’m sure they were just deer bones, and the poor site is just covered with dumped trash by local idiots, so some hunter or kids probably thought it would be funny to dump these here, but it makes for some neat imagery and lets the imagination wander… death cult uprising in Richmond/Henrico, anyone? Or maybe this is some weird tribute ritual that I’m unaware of, any thoughts?
Picture 1: http://i.imgur.com/wD2iHIg.jpg
Picture 2: http://i.imgur.com/VNlbdAp.jpg
These certainly were not deer bones (circa 2005): http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxpower/63062508/
The broken down state of this place is beyond sad. I really need to volunteer and help at the next clean up.
Definitely not deer bones. I thought it was common knowledge this place had fallen into serious disrepair & that many of the graves had been desecrated.
I have driven through this a couple of times but haven’t run across bones yet (never ventured out of the car) but human bones are around there. What blows my mind about this acres upon acres, thousands of graves neglected is that no one, city or cemetery association, has stepped in to try and do something about it. Is this privately owned or what is the status today?
@Eric there’s a volunteer group that regularly gets together monthly, but it’s really challenging to keep beating back the weeds and such AND deal with utter disrepair.
I thought the volunteer group had such problems with the owners they have move to another cemetery. To think the Black community is up in arms over the slave graves in the Bottom but no comment or outrage over the condition of Evergreen.
Eric/All: The volunteer group meets weekly if not more often and is currently working on the East End Cemetery. They have done a remarkable amount of work in these past few months. Work at Evergreen (last resting place of Maggie Walker and Richmond Planet editor John Mitchell) has stopped due to a dispute with the cemetery owner. Much of the progress made there is being lost to the relentless growth of English Ivy and small trees and brush. You can learn all you want about volunteering at East End, by Friending John Schuck on Facebook. John is the tireless volunteer leader who has kept all this going for years now.
eds: You are exactly right on all counts.
https://www.facebook.com/jgshuck?fref=ts&ref=br_tf
paul hammond… I thought Isaiah Entzminger of UK Corp was wanting help to get the cemetery cleaned up? Why is there a dispute?
Yes, 5,000 lots with who knows how many people buried there and in the shape it is in is mind boggling. As soon as volunteers clear one patch it starts growing again. It will take deep pockets and an army of professionals to get it back into shape. There are also interesting back stories about Evergreen – many are horror stories. I am going to see if I can get involved and talk with the owner myself as well as others offering outside help.
Eric, It will take an army of pros, but I’m enthralled with the spirit of volunteerism when I go. I feel a real connection with the people buried there. Every tombstone tells a story, some literally. It makes me want to travel back in time to meet them. In a way, that’s what it feels like to go there.
Check with John Shuck to get the details on the dispute. It’s a bit more complicated than I can describe.
Here’s a few pictures from my last trip there.
https://www.facebook.com/paul.hammond.754/posts/10202269216763425
Paul… I asked John Shuck but he passed it off and told me to ask Veronica Davis. I haven’t heard back from her.
Whoah, this is my post from Reddit, weird to see it show up here.
For any curious, I went back, and they are certainly not human bones. There’s a dog or deer skull with the pile.
Nundahl – thanks for the follow up! & I’m a huge reddit fan, it’s a great open forum.