THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9407080848
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Four ancient iron headstones, one toppled on the ground, the others still standing but overgrown with vines and trees, vividly contrasted with the sophisticated electronic apparatus Glenn Payne held in his hand.
Payne, museums projects coordinator for the city's Department of Museums, was using the latest in technology to preserve some of our earliest history. The device, known as a global positioning system, was determining the exact longitude and latitude of those long abandoned graves by receiving location signals from government satellites high up in the sky.
Our forebears under those early 1800 grave markers looked to the skies to determine their location, too. However, they used a sextant and the stars were their guiding light.
Payne was kneeling in a field adjacent to the little grave site, taking down the coordinates as the GPS received the signals from satellites passing overhead. The combination keyboard and tiny screen was about the size of a portable Walkman radio.
The device is on loan to the Virginia Beach Department of Museums by Boat/U.S. Marine Center in Norfolk. It is able to measure precise locations, as small as the grave site, through the use of 12 Department of Defense satellites circling the earth.
Over the summer, Payne hopes to find and then locate the exact positions of other graves in Virginia Beach that are not under the care of a custodian or in church or public cemeteries. He will compile an inventory of the sites and the locations will be put on a map by the Surveys and Mapping Division of the Department of Public Works.
In a rural area such as old Princess Anne County, it was traditional to bury family members in plots right on the farm. But now the tiny family plot where Payne was working was on the edge of a new residential development off Holland Road.
The plot is one of many such sites across the city that reflect the changing face of Virginia Beach. The plots surface in the oddest places - along the side of a major new road, in the middle of a suburban residential area or like the Holland Road site, in the woods, with no homestead in sight.
Payne's inventory of grave sites is a component of the city's historic strategic planning process. When completed, the strategic plan will make recommendations for the preservation of historic sites in Virginia Beach, including buildings, archaeological sites and cemeteries.
This area was settled in the early 1630s, not long after Jamestown, so the inventory will be a very important part of the city's historical records, Payne said. It will be especially important to genealogists.
Since Virginia was one of the earliest settled sections in the nation, families across the United States trace their ancestry to Virginia, many of them directly to Virginia Beach.
``We certainly view grave sites as a historic resource,'' Payne said.
``Apart from the historic significance of grave sites,'' he added, ``the state codes provides for their protection out of a basic sense of reverence for our ancestors.''
Payne knows his project won't be successful unless he has the help of interested citizens. He hopes folks will call him with the location of family grave sites at his office in the Francis Land House, 431-3733.
No matter how many people already know about the sites and no matter whether they are listed in other resources or not, Payne still needs to know about them, too.
``I still have to get the longitude and latitude so they can be precisely plotted on a map,'' he said.
``We are aware that numerous sites have been destroyed over the past 20 years by development or vandalism,'' Payne said.
``Hopefully, we can bring attention to these so some efforts in the future will be directed toward preserving them.''
If not, at least there will be an accurate record.
P.S. ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME: MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD is a new exhibit opening today at the Francis Land House. Toys, games, photographs and other childhood memorabilia provide a look at the lives of children in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Children will be able to play with reproductions of toys and games from the past.
A WALKING TOUR OF DOWNTOWN NORFOLK, sponsored by the Department of Historic Houses, Chrysler Museum, will take place at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Entitled Norfolk Afoot, the two-hour tour will introduce first-time visitors to the city. Meet in the lobby of the Norfolk Waterside Marriott Hotel. The cost is $5. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by MARY REID BARROW
Glenn Payne, the city's museums projects coordinator, uses a
portable device known as global positioning system to determine the
exact longitude and latitude of long abandoned graves by receiving
location signals from government satellites. by CNB