Locality:
Realty Map: 2322214 Cultural
Affiliation: Euro-American
USGS Map:
Grid Locus: C-11 Elevation: 1020 feet
UTM Easting: 590840 Aspect: Flat
UTM Northing: 4126840
Site Dimensions: 53
by 66 feet
Survey Description:
Recent archaeological investigations at this small cemetery by C.
Clifford Boyd of
Surveyed By: T.
Klatka C. Boyd
Survey Date: 9/96 6/98
Field Notes: ___Yes _x_No
Photographs: ___Yes _x_No
References: Boyd,
C. Clifford
1998 Archaeological Investigations of the
1986
Works Progress Administration of
Document #9.
Additional Comments:
Assigned temporal period was based on the 1852 through 1857 range of
death dates inscribed on the modern grave marker. However, the presence of one uninscribed
fieldstone marker and other unmarked graves may reflect an earlier or later use
of the site. The cemetery is not marked
on the USGS Roanoke map sheet, but it is marked on local realty maps and
labeled “McClanahan Cemetery Perpetual Reserve.”
This cemetery was initially surveyed in 1936 by the Works
Progress Administration of Virginia and recorded as the “Old McClanahan
Graveyard” in Document #9 of the Historical Inventory of Roanoke County,
Virginia. The WPA file provided
biographical information for the graves of Agatha Strother Lewis McClanahan and
Elijah McClanahan. The WPA file
documented the poor condition of the cemetery and reported, “the tombstones are
broken and other markers gone, and what remains of the inscriptions are ruined
almost beyond
recognition.” The documented inscriptions on the grave
markers for Agatha and Elijah McClanahan were described as “the only readable
ones.” This account suggests the
presence of other graves.
The RVHS surveyed this cemetery, labeled it as
the “McClanahan Cemetery II,” and used the WPA survey file to document the
inscriptions on the grave markers for Agatha and Elijah McClanahan (1986: 156). The cemetery condition was described as
“deplorable” and the presence of additional graves was indicated by the
explanation that “other graves, unmarked, were supposed to be the graves of
children.”
During the 1996 survey the western
and central parts of the cemetery were covered with an overgrowth of saplings
and brush. Additionally, piles of
construction debris and general refuse covered portions of the site surface. Inside the remnants of a brick enclosure an
inscribed double marker and an uninscribed fieldstone marker of red shale were
observed. The double marker appeared to
be fashioned from one of the capstones from the brick enclosure and it
contained biographical information for the interments of Elijah and Agatha McClanahan. This modern marker was situated along the
southern side of the cemetery with inscriptions facing north. The red shale marker was located along the
west wall of the brick enclosure and it marked the head of a grave that was
oriented west to east. In all
likelihood, the modern marker was not placed at the head of any grave but was
situated so the inscription would face visitors who approached the cemetery
from the most used entrance along the northern side of the cemetery.
Inscriptions on modern marker:
In Memory
Col. Elijah McClanahan Agatha
L. McClanahan
April 20, 1770 – Dec. 1, 1857 Mar. 15, 1779 –