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Volunteers, descendants press county to protect Woodlawn Cemetery in historic-district nomination
Summary
Speakers supporting a Woodlawn Cemetery historic-district nomination described extensive volunteer work, geophysical detection of at least 257 grave anomalies and six-figure fundraising; they urged the board to protect the county's only known Black cemetery in perpetuity.
Kat Silcom told the board the Woodlawn Cemetery restoration project has done listening sessions with descendants and volunteers and uncovered significant evidence of unmarked graves. "We have found in our geophysics data 2 57 grave anomalies so far," she said, and reported that a human-remains-detection dog had found many more indicators. Silcom said the site is currently overgrown, volunteers have cleared significant acreage, universities have contributed research assistance, and the office of community and economic development is supporting a nomination for local historic-district designation.
Commissioners thanked the team and several said they had visited the site. The board included the Woodlawn Cemetery study committee appointment among single-reading items and commissioners encouraged continued outreach to descendants and partners; volunteer dates and national-guard assistance for an upcoming cleanup were announced from the public podium.
