Pittsylvania Co., VA - Officials have been working for months to develop the Berry Hill Mega Park in Pittsylvania County. but now, it looks as though they'll have an extra project to work on.
A resident has discovered a large slave cemetery on the property. They believe there are thousands of graves there, some dating back to 1898.
We spoke with one of the ancestors, Cedrick Hairston, assistant principal at Chatham Middle School. We called him Wednesday to to tell him what we knew and he was so surprised, he met us at the cemetery and he told us he had chills. Hairston knew his ancestors were buried somewhere on Berry Hill Road. "We knew that it existed we were just having a hard time in the location." He never imagined, he'd be walking through the cemetery. "It brings mixed emotions to think of your ancestors."
Some graves were marked with stones. Others, just depressions in the ground. The entire graveyard was hidden by woods.
William Gosnell says he found this cemetery eight years ago. "It took me a week of walking back and forth to locate the cemetery." He was asked by a friend and descendent, who has now passed, to keep it a secret. "She told me not to tell anyone where it was at because she was afraid that people would go in there and disturb it," Gosnell said. He kept his lips sealed until two months ago. "The reason that I told people was simply because I knew they were gonna try to develop this area and if they did there was a possibility that the cemetery might be right in the middle of it," Gosnell said. That's when Gosnell says he got in touch with Sonia Ingram with Virginia Preservation.
County officials say this site will be protected. Their plan is to map it, plot it, and protect it some of which they've already started.
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