ground-penetrating radar

Lane Street Project: why we need a survey map, part 2.

Take a walk with me.

This obviously was done in one take, so a few clarifications:

  • Estimating the height of the pole does not involve “triangulation.” But it’s definitely math.
  • I meant the central monument, not “the marker.” But actually, per GIS info, the monument area is about 126′ above sea level, whereas an area that straddles the border with Wright Farm is 130′. The lowest points of Vick, both along the fence at Odd Fellows, are 116′. None of Vick lies in a flood plain, but after heavy rain, water often stands in the low areas. Aerials taken in winter months, such as that on the County’s GIS website, reveal the muddiness of this area.
  • The ground isn’t “more dense” at gravesite, but it’s been disturbed and may have a different composition than the surrounding soil. The grass is definitely more lush. (Which is actually pretty disturbing to contemplate.)
  • Siri thought I was talking to her at one point.
  • The fire ants. Wow. I sacrificed my right ankle for this clip.

Lane Street Project: even the simplest request goes unfulfilled.

Right after the May 11 public forum, the City of Wilson agreed, at my request, to deposit a copy of New South Associates’ GPR survey with Wilson County Public Library. Here’s Councilmember Gillettia Morgan‘s suggestion, sent via email attachment on May 31:

Has the City followed through with this simple request? 

No.

Today I left at the Local History Room a bound copy of my May 11 PowerPoint slide deck and notes. When the library inquired this morning, a city official said they’d drop off a copy of the GPR report “this week.” 

While we’re here: at the May 11 forum, the Mayor promised transparency and accountability from the City concerning Vick and indicated he wanted to “work together” to address its problems. None of that is happening. The last email I received from Councilmember Morgan is dated May 31. She has not responded to any I have sent since. However, she is ahead of councilmembers Johnson, Liles, Creech, Fyle, Bell, and Evans; the Mayor; the City Manager; the Assistant City Manager; and the Communications Director, who collectively have not responded to or even acknowledged receipt of a single email. (I have spoken with the Mayor by phone concerning the August 5 Vick Cemetery reconsecration. He did not initiate the call.)

I don’t vote in Wilson, and I have to abide by the Hatch Act, but I surely hope citizens will ask hard questions of candidates about their intentions for Vick Cemetery and remember both word and deed at election time.

Lane Street Project: kudos to Elizabeth City.

Another city doing it better than Wilson — Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Thirteen-acre Oak Grove cemetery was founded about 1886 as a burial ground for African-Americans. The City of Elizabeth City took ownership of the cemetery in 1964, and its newer sections are still open for burials.

In 2021, Elizabeth City officials agreed to help fund an archaeological survey to identify marked and unmarked graves at Old Oak Grove. The $50,800 survey was funded by a $30,480 grant from the state’s Historic Preservation Fund with the remaining $20,320 supplied by the city. [Here’s a takeaway, City of Wilson — there’s grant money out there!]

The first phase of the project included a land survey to mark and record the boundaries of the cemetery. [In other words, unlike Wilson, Elizabeth City had a survey map prepared and recorded.] Industry leaders New South Associates then performed a ground-penetrating radar survey of Old Oak Grove, finding evidence of 5,418 graves, of which 2,331 are unmarked (including some found under dirt paths in the cemetery). New South’s report recommended that Elizabeth City nominate Old Oak Grove for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

Though I have no doubt the road to enlightened treatment of Old Oak Grove was a stony one to tread, Elizabeth City now understands its value as a selling point for the city. The City’s tourism website devotes a whole page to the site, touting its significance to local history as well as national events. [Looking at you, Wilson County Tourism Development Authority.]

And you, Barton College. Per Visit Elizabeth City:

“In 2021, Elizabeth City State University and the Museum of the Albemarle partnered with the NC African American Heritage Commission (NC AAHC) and the Office of State Archaeology (OSA) to teach preservation techniques focused on Elizabeth City African American cemeteries. At Old Oak Grove Cemetery, techniques and best practices were shared with current ESCU history students on how to photograph and survey the grounds. Proper cleaning methods of gravestones were demonstrated and the ECSU students and professors cleaned six historic markers. These headstones memorialized Civil War veterans who were enlisted in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) Heavy Artillery Regiment.

…

“Cemetery Hours of Operation: Year-round. The cemetery is maintained by the Elizabeth City Department of Parks and Recreation and is open from dawn to dusk. Street parking is available. Please be respectful of these hallowed grounds.”

There are lots of models out here for progressive public-private partnerships and community engagement around neglected and abused African-American cemeteries. The City of Wilson has not chosen one.

Photos courtesy of visitelizabethcity.com.

Lane Street Project: more photos of Vick Cemetery’s edges.

More photos from Vick Cemetery after New South Associates marked graves last week.

——

First, a close-up of the markers at the base of one of the power poles. Should the poles be moved? Should the graves under the power lines and/or inside the public right-of-way be disinterred and reburied in Rest Haven? Should DNA testing be done on any remains found to determine who they (or their closest kin) are?

(By the way, these power poles distribute electricity from Wilson Energy’s Substation #2, which was built circa 1964. We can assume the original power poles were set at that time. These steel poles are upgrades.)

The same pole, a few feet back. The thick, dark green patches of grass generally indicate an underlying grave; several are visible, unmarked, in the right-of-way between the poles and the ditch.

A clear view of the anchor rods for the four guy wires for Pole 2 and of the random pine that has been allowed to grow up in the cemetery. Below the photo, I’ve inserted a generic diagram of what’s likely below the surface. I think it’s safe to say that each of these anchor rods and their attached anchors have destroyed graves.

 

Detail from Wood Pole Guys and Setting Depths, Michigan Department of Transportation, Bureau of Highways Delivery Standard Plan.

The next two photos show graves crossing the western edge of the cemetery into property owned by Wilson Farm Properties LLC (“the Wright Farm”). Though none was formerly filed, an easement for natural gas pipeline runs along the farm side of the boundary. Generally, natural gas lines are only a few feet deep, and these may lie atop graves. This area should be surveyed via ground-penetrating radar.

Below, the back west corner, where Wright Farm wraps around Vick Cemetery. This orange-painted block is outside the Vick boundary among young soybean plants.

The western section of the back boundary, which is covered by a low growth of sweetgum saplings, dog fennel, and other woody weeds. This strip was not surveyed by GPR.

Thanks to B.S. and C.H. for these photos.

Lane Street Project: graves exceed cemetery boundary.

From the 3 July 2023 edition of the Wilson Times (note: the “cemetery boundary” is the property line at the street, which is now subject to a setback for the public right-of-way, but was not when Vick was active):

The visceral response from those who’ve seen these little blocks is that they make the GPR survey map seem “real.” The photo below is peak realness: the power poles inside the property line; the graves in the public right-of-way; a spur of the ditch encroaching on graves.

CITY OF WILSON, WE DEMAND A PLAT MAP OF VICK CEMETERY.

Lane Street Project: absent a plat map, a photographic analysis of the survey flags.

Today, New South Associates is scheduled to return to Vick Cemetery to do whatever it is the City has asked it to do. Per news accounts, “New South will flag unmarked graves along the cemetery’s property edges and provide a map showing which graves were marked, officials said.” Does this mean New South will perform GPR surveying in the areas along the edges of the cemetery not surveyed last year?  The City has not meaningfully engaged the descendant community since the Mayor promised transparency at the May 11 public forum, so we have no idea.

In the inexplicable absence of a plat map of the property, here are a few observations based on photos of the survey flags. First, an aerial (courtesy of Bing.com) showing the four power poles along the front edge of the cemetery. (I have previously referred to the three enormous steel poles, but there is a fourth wooden pole, labeled 1 below.)

These photographs were taken yesterday. In the first, the viewer is standing close to and with his back to the ditch at the far western edge of the cemetery. Wright Farm is at right; Vick Cemetery at left. Two survey flags mark the corner at the boundary of the farm and cemetery. The wooden power pole, which bears a City of Wilson tag, appears to be imbedded in the property line. The pole is tethered to a guy wire anchored in the ground. The anchor rod is inside the cemetery property line. Power poles are typically set in the ground at a depth of 10% of the overall height of the pole, plus two feet. Thus if this is a 30-foot pole, five feet of the pole is below grade, and 25 feet above. The anchor rod is attached to an anchor also set several feet below ground. To the right of the power pole is a fiberglass post marking a natural gas pipeline. This pipeline likely was laid circa 1959, when the first gas pipelines arrived in Wilson, but there is no record of a utility easement for it. We know it wraps around two sides of the cemetery.


The next photo was taken from a vantage point in the road several feet east of poles 1 and 2. Four guy wires anchor pole 2; a conifer has grown up around their anchor rods. All are well inside the boundaries of the cemetery. Note the survey flag placed several feet back from the edge of the ditch. As I’ve noted before, the “official” property line here is determined by the 60-foot public right-of-way, which is measured 30 feet in either direction from the center line of the street. No such right-of-way would have been observed during Vick Cemetery’s active period from 1913 to about 1960, and it is likely that graves extend into this space.

Consider Rest Haven and Masonic Cemeteries, which were laid out around the corner on the same street circa 1900, on land that was then outside city limits. After the City annexed the area, it needed to widen and pave Lane [now Bishop L.N. Forbes] Street. In order to achieve standard street width, curbing was laid to the very edge of the graves, resulting in dozens (if not hundreds) of graves inside the public right-of-way. See, for example:

The next photo shows a line of three survey flags marking the front edge of the property at the public right-of-way. It’s difficult to say — a survey map would be definitive — but it appears the power pole is inside the cemetery property. The steel poles are enormous. If they are, say, 60 feet tall, then eight feet of that length is underground. New South did not survey this area in its first visit to Vick.

And finally, a close-up of the bottom of pole 4, taken from the driveway into the small parking lot at Vick Cemetery, which has room for about five cars. At bottom left, we see the corner of the parking area. New South surveyed only the bumped-out area of the parking stalls and found evidence of 18 graves beneath it. The power pole is ten to fifteen feet away. In just a sliver of the little peninsula of grass between the parking lot, the pole, and the ditch, the survey found ten graves.

Many thanks to B.W. and T.S. for quick photos. Lane Street Project is a community collective. It’s going to take all of us to stay on top of what is happening at Vick Cemetery. This is a Sankofa moment if ever there were one. We don’t have to look back very far to see what needs to happen differently going forward.

Vick Cemetery’s descendant community and its allies demand transparency, accountability, and dialogue. Join us for an initial  Zoom meeting tonight to learn more.

Lane Street Project: New South returns, but the city scoffs at a plat map.

The Wilson Times‘ continues its close coverage of Vick Cemetery with another Page 1 article in the June 27 edition. An engaged local press is vital to an informed community. Please support local media.

Also, please demand transparency from Wilson city government concerning Vick. Though I am described in this article as a liaison between the city and the descendant community, I can tell you there is precious little liasing going on. As if this isn’t the tack that got us to this unfortunate point in the first place, city officials continue to make decisions and take actions unilaterally, with no communication before or after.

We press on.

Lane Street Project: the fence.

On page 28, New South Associates’ Vick Cemetery ground-penetrating radar report recommends:

City Council’s first action after receiving the report was a vote to erect a fence at Vick. At the May 11 Vick Cemetery open forum, I urged caution and a slow roll — fences require fenceposts, which are anchored below ground level and pose potential danger to shallow graves.

Councilwoman Gillettia Morgan has advised me that

  • a land survey of the entire property is underway;
  • New South Associates has agreed to advise the city on appropriate fencing for the site; and
  • New South will be onsite to oversee installation of any fencing to prevent further disturbance of graves.

My thoughts:

  • all of this is good, but
  • we know that areas inside each of Vick’s borders were not radar-surveyed;
  • this includes the front edge of the cemetery, under the power lines and inside the city’s right-of-way and/or the utility easement;
  • but also, along its western edge, where the cemetery abuts a natural gas pipeline easement;
  • and in the back, where trees are growing in the cemetery (should they be cut down?);
  • and, on the east side,  where an unsurveyed strip perhaps 20 feet wide runs through the driveway, across the parking lot, and all the way back to the woods;

  • the determination of the course of fencing should take place only after a more complete assessment of the locations of graves is made and after an assessment of what, if anything, should be done about structures such as the parking lot and electricity transmission poles;
  • once New South has identified types of fencing appropriate for the site, the city should seek public input on the style of fence selected (read: NO CHAIN LINK);
  • as Rev. Carlton Best so incisively noted at the open forum, Vick Cemetery is both a physical place and a grouping of ancestors. Both have been dishonored. A fence goes some way toward protecting the place, but we cannot lose sight of the 4,224+ people who lie here.

Lane Street Project: Vick Cemetery open forum, May 11.

You can’t care about what you don’t know about. Come out and hear and speak for yourselves.

Elizabeth Bynum Lucas and Clarence Bynum, please see more about Andrew Jackson Calhoun Moore, a teacher, grocer, and founding member of Calvary Presbyterian Church, here and here and here and here and here and here.

My thanks to Wilson Times, which has closely covered Lane Street Project’s work since our very first clean-up in December 2020. Also, old editions of the Times, available at http://www.newspaperarchives.com, have been an invaluable source of information about the city’s involvement with Vick Cemetery in the 1990s. Please support local journalism.