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Cemetery May Pose Problem for Project |
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Developer tries to allay fears of preservationists; state officials to visit site.
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Huntsville Times |
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Date: 1/22/04 |
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by John Peck |
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Efford Bentley never would have envisioned a Wal-Mart Supercenter as his final resting place. But if developers have their way, a Wal-Mart parking lot will surround his grave. |
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"We're worried the cemetery will just disappear," said Jim Maples of Huntsville, a member of the National Society Sons of the American Revolution. Officials with the Historic Huntsville Foundation sent a letter urging developers to preserve the cemetery. City Planning Commission Chairman Crawford Howard and City Councilman Bill Kling said they've gotten several e-mails and calls. |
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| Representatives from the Alabama Historic Commission and the Department of Transportation planned to visit the site today to see if the development poses a threat to an archaeological site. That could prove a stumbling block if grants are used in site preparation or state highway money is used to build access roads. State laws offer cemeteries some protection from encroaching development, but the statutes are sometimes difficult to enforce. Elizabeth Brown, deputy state historic preservation officer, said Wednesday preservation efforts usually boil down to working with local political leaders and developers. |
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| "No one in public service wants to move a cemetery because it's very emotionally charged for people," she said. | |
| Scott McLain, a commercial real estate developer involved with the project, said Wednesday his clients are committed to work around the cemetery. "There has been complete agreement between the developer and Wal-Mart not to disturb the cemetery," McLain said. | |
| The project is still in its infancy, so development plans aren't far enough along to show the configuration of stores, access roads and parking lots. | |
| A draft drawing voluntarily filed with the city shows the cemetery encircled by a giant parking lot, with a proposed extension of Old Gurley Pike threading nearby. | |
| City planning officials are considering a rezoning request that would pave the way for the development. Planners are weighing traffic concerns and trying to decide whether commercial development at that location fits the city's overall planning and zoning scheme. The state DOT eventually plans to extend Interstate 565 past the site, but city planners believe that could be years away. | |
| McLain and city officials recently discussed adding turn lanes and improving the Moores Mill Road intersection to help handle traffic from the proposed shopping center. McLain said Wednesday there will be plenty of buffer between the cemetery and the development. The burial site is on a knoll in a thicket of trees. |
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| "It would be like a landscaping island, but a big one,'' McLain said. "It will be surrounded by roads and parking, but otherwise will not be disturbed." | |
| The Wal-Mart and adjacent stores will encompass about 50 acres of the Stewart-Powell estate. | |
| Maples, a member of the Alabama Cemetery Preservation Alliance, said although he's pleased developers promise to leave the burial site intact, it is still difficult to conceive of a Revolutionary War cemetery within a shopping center that size. | |
| "I just can't see doing that. It needs to be preserved, though," he said. | |
| Sarah Bentley, a descendant of Efford Bentley, expressed dismay that a shopping center will replace the serene setting the cemetery had for almost 200 years. Bentley, 85, said she discovered the gravesite only three years ago through the help of a researcher at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library. | |
| "The stone was buried in the dirt. It had broken off and fallen over," she said. | |
| Research showed Efford Bentley served in the Revolutionary War and migrated to the area from Virginia in 1809. That's a decade before Alabama became a state. Harris was reportedly acting secretary for Thomas Jefferson at Monticello before moving to Alabama to begin a lucrative career in agriculture. | |
| Brown said developers need to be especially cautious around historic cemeteries because poor people were often buried on the periphery with only a tiny headstone or footstone. That's especially true in the South, where slaves were buried outside the plantation cemetery. | |
| "The actual cemetery may be two or three times bigger," she said. | |
| On the Net: Alabama Cemetery Preservation Alliance: www.alcpa.net | |
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| ACPA Notice: The ACPA Representative for Madison County is Jim Maples. If you would like to contact Jim about this article or any cemetery issues in Madison County, please visit the ACPA Madison County Representative Page for contact information. | |
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