Barnes Cemetery - Purchased to be Developed

Cemetery purchased for housing development in Hampton

Barnes Cemetery aka Woodland Cemetery is located at 213 and 215 Woodland Road and part of 217 Woodland Road near Pembroke Ave in Hampton Virginia.  

This land is deeded as a cemetery with plots sold for burials with the oldest burial document to 1885. 

Your grave is supposed to be your final resting place.  Research shows eleven graves were desecrated and bodies moved on 22 Sep 2005.

  
A developer purchased the cemetery in 2005 to build housing on the cemetery.  They moved eleven vaults and the City of Hampton refers the eleven health permits to transport the bodies as evidence of all bodies being removed.  

The process to remove bodies according to the Code of Virginia is that due diligence is required to find next of kin, like publishing in the local newspaper, this was not done.  Next a Bill in Equity required from the Circuit Court, this is basically asking the judge permission to move the bodies and gives the families an opportunity to weigh in on the request.  Third a permit from the city for each grave to open and close the grave, this was not done.  Fourth, a permit per grave from the health department to move the bodies from the current location to the new location.  Eleven permits were obtained however three stated they were for Virginia Barnes; research does not support there being three people with that name in the City of Hampton and/or being buried in Barnes Cemetery.  One permit was for Frank Chisman however a picture taken the following day shows no dirt was removed from his grave and they did not mark his new grave site, so where is Frank Chisman?  Fifth, a funeral director is required to ensure the process is done properly, there was no funeral director there.  Without the funeral director to oversee the process we don’t know if in fact the bodies they claim were removed and reinterred were actually who they say they were and that the bodies were not robbed, etc.

Now the dangers disturbing the ground and allowing building and occupancy of the property is real.  This cemetery dates back to at least the 1880’s.  Embalming solutions of the time was not regulated and was made by the embalming surgeon.  The embalming solutions were made up of mostly arsenic with copper and mercury added in depending on the embalmer.  Arsenic has a shelf life of about 2,000 years with copper and mercury have a very long shelf live as well.  Generally, cemeteries are eight times more toxic than a regular parcel of land.  Virginia does not require vaults in burials and vaults did not come into play until about 1920 so most of the people buried here would not have been buried in vaults.  The wooden coffins and caskets with metal hinges, nails, screws, etc. and paint and varnish would add further toxins by way of lead and heavy metals.  Ground Penetrating Radar has been done two or three times now, we know from our research and from the Virginia State Cemetery Board that Ground Penetrating Radar does not find all grave in cemeteries of this age.  Sentra hospital in Hampton has a cemetery the same age as Barnes cemetery and they secured William and Mary College to come out and find the perimeter of the cemetery to ensure they didn’t desecrate the cemetery and bodies.  Why will the City of Hampton not require this before any ground disturbing or development?

 
With the disturbance of the graves and utility lines and driveway put in along with a new storm drain at the road in front of the cemetery this causes concern that the very real possibility of arsenic, copper, mercury, heavy metals, and other poisons and toxins are being put into the storm drain through the runoff water and the soil becoming a toxic land field.

This cemetery was owned by Norfleet Barnes and him along with William Trusty were the first two Black Town Councilmen, not only in Phoebus (now Hampton) but in the State of Virginia, elected in 1901.  

Norfleet Barnes was buried in this cemetery in 1909. Mr. Barnes’ mother was buried in the cemetery in 1885 and his father in 1887.  His father was a U.S.C.T. (U. S. Colored Troop) who was stationed at Ft. Monroe during the Civil War. 

This is how you can help.  Call and/or email the Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Council, City Manager and the City Attorney and let them know how you feel about this situation.

City Council

Phone:  757-727-6315

Fax:  757-728-3037

To email all council members collectively use this email.

Email:  council@hampton.gov

If you wish to email city council members individually those emails are listed below.

Mayor Jimmy Gray:  jgray@hampton.gov

Vice Mayor Steven L. Brown:  steven.brown@hampton.gov

Council member Randy Bowman:   randy.bowman@hampton.gov

Council member Carolyn Campbell:  carolyn.campbell@hampton.gov

Council member Michelle Ferebee:  michelle.ferebee@hampton.gov

Council member Hope L. Harper:  hope.harper@hampton.gov

Council member Martha Mugler:  martha.mugler@hampton.gov

City Manager:  Mary Bunting

Phone:  757-727-6392

Email:  mbunting@hampton.gov

City Attorney:  Courtney Sydnor

Phone:  757-727-6127

Fax:  757-727-6788

Email:  courtney.sydnor@hampton.gov

More updates and information to follow.