Locality:
Realty Map: 50.03-1-14 Cultural
Affiliation: Euro-American
USGS Map: Stewartsville Landform: Ridge bench
Grid Locus: B-10 Elevation: 1220 feet
UTM Easting: 600140 Aspect: South
UTM Northing: 4127730
Site Dimensions: 50
by 50 feet
Survey Description:
Site consists of a small family cemetery with an unknown number of
graves.
Survey Date: 11/98
Field Notes: _x_Yes ___No
Photographs: _x_Yes ___No
References:
1986
Additional Comments: Assigned
temporal period was based on the single observed headstone inscribed with a
1870 death date and previous site documentation which suggests site use from
1776 through 1898. However, the presence of uninscribed fieldstone markers and
unmarked graves may reflect an earlier or later use of the site. The cemetery is not marked on the USGS
Stewartsville map sheet and or on local realty maps.
This cemetery was probably surveyed in 1936 by the Works
Progress Administration of Virginia and recorded as the “Ruddle Grave Yard” in
Document #24 of the Historical Inventory of Roanoke County, Virginia. While information on the WPA inventory file
cannot provide a conclusive connection between the “Ruddle Grave Yard” and the
According to the WPA inventory file, the “Ruddle Grave Yard”
was located “1 mile east of Vinton, Virginia, near the Bush and Ruddle Road
#651, about one half mile north side on hill, and northeast of the Ruddle
Home.” The cemetery was described as “a
private graveyard owned by Catherine Ruddle Sublett, a descendant of the early
Ruddle settlers. It is in deplorable
condition. No one is able to take care
of it on account of financial as well as physical handicaps.” The file documented the grave of Sarah Routt
(In Memory of / Sarah, / Wife of Richard Routt, / Departed this life / November
15, 1849 / Aged 62 years, 2 months) and the surveyor mentioned he found “two
tablets” with the dates “1776, 1777, 1778, 1779”
The RVHS surveyed this cemetery and recorded it as the
“Lunsford Cemetery.” The survey report
documented information from headstone inscriptions and additional information
pertaining to the Bush, Harrison, Holley, and Lunsford families derived from
written records and the oral history of Frances Bush who lived across the road
from the cemetery (1986: 155). According
the survey report, the cemetery can be found
Lunsford Cemetery
(continued)
by following “Route 651 east of Vinton past Mountain View
Cemetery, then keep to the left on an old road; the cemetery is on the north
side of the road, overgrown with bushes and small trees.”
Marker Inscription – 1998 survey:
John William
Son of
Rev. J.? & S.E.
Died
Aged
10 Y & 10 M 11D
(Dislodged footstone: JWH)
The RVHS provided the following information:
Bush
John Edward, born and died 1783
Joseph S., died at age 28
Harrison
Two
small boys, sons of J.R. & Sarah Lunsford Harrison
Holley
Frances
Lunsford, 1835 – 1886
Lunsford
Elizabeth,
wife of Thomas, born 1801
Hannah,
born 1827
John,
born 1831
Samuel L.,
1839 – 1898
Thomas,
born 1791
Virginia
Catherine, born 1848