WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | Two men on a mission to clean up a lost cemetery

Two men on a mission to clean up a lost cemetery

For nearly 30 years, it has sat unnoticed.

"If you were younger than I am you probably thought it was just bushes up here," says Gary Gaither, who's 60.

In fact, many who live near the cemetery, which is on Liberty Road next to Lincoln Terrace Elementary School in Northwest Roanoke, still don't know it's there.

But if you take away the trees and the trash, you'll see it, somebody's home.  It's their final resting place.

On this day, Junius Gaither, a 79-year-old who's lived in Roanoke all his life, points out his mother's grave. While he had an idea where she was buried, he only rediscovered the grave about three years ago.

His mother's name was Liller Gaither. She is one of roughly 1,500 souls buried in Springwood. In the 1930's, it was one of only three all black cemeteries in the Roanoke Valley.

"I never could understand why a person would cry when they was happy, but I actually cried, I actually cried," says Gaither.

He had a stone put down so his mother's grave would never be lost again.  To understand how a grave could be lost, you have to take a step back.

Remember the cemetery, private property, has been abandoned for close to three decades.

"All this right here, there's no sign of respect. You let that grow up like that," says Gaither.

Each fall as the weeds die, Gaither goes to work at Springwood Burial Park, and at his side is someone else with workers' hands. A man who has no roots here.

"It's the two of us together that keep going," says Bob Bird.

Inside this all black cemetery, Bob Bird is white.

"I guess we egg each other on," says Bird.

"Maybe we're just stubborn too," says Gaither.

As we tour the cemetery, Bird points to spots where the ground is uneven from sunken graves.

"This one look[s] like it may have had a vault that collapsed," says Bird.

Fewer than 25 percent of the graves have permanent headstones making it difficult to determine who is buried where.

"Unfortunately some of the graves won't ever be identified," says Bird.

Every now and then, volunteers like Charlie Turpin show up. He and his tractor have breathed new life into the project.

"I started to turn around," says Turpin, when he recalls his first visit to the cemetery.

Both Bird and Gaither say if Turpin would charge them for the work he's done to remove some of the brush, the cost would likely be in the thousands.

Speaking of money, more and more it's the green that doesn't grow on trees that's becoming the stumbling block.

"Our biggest expense has been herbicides," says Gaither.

The men estimate they've spent about $600 of their own money. They've also paid application fees to the IRS to have their cleanup effort declared as a charitable organization. The application fee was a couple hundred bucks in itself.

Gaither and Bird know Springwood Burial will never be the flat grassy place it used to be, but here they are. They are working to restore a place and find some lost souls.

"We have done some things, but much more needs to be done," says Gaither.

For Hollani Davis' thoughts on this story, check out her blog.