Rowland Cemetery

 

Locality: Roanoke County                  Temporal Period:                  4th quarter 19th c.

Realty Map:          28.01-1-14                              Cultural Affiliation:              Euro-American

USGS Map:           Roanoke                                                Landform:                              Ridge top

Grid Locus:            I-4                                           Elevation:                              1280 feet

UTM Easting:       596250                                    Aspect:                                  Northwest

UTM Northing:    4133700

 

Site Dimensions: 65 by 65 feet

 

Survey Description:  Site consists of a small cemetery in a poor state of preservation.  Cemetery borders two property lines in a residential development and is covered with a lawn and a rose bed.  A minimum of six interments were observed; however, given the condition of the cemetery it is very likely that additional graves exist.  Five graves were marked with fragments of uninscribed fieldstone markers and one grave was marked by fragments of a marble marker.  Subtle ground surface depressions may indicate the location of  three other graves; however, it is possible that previous landscaping activities on the site have obscured surface indications of other graves.  A rose bed that measures approximately 2 by 35 feet in size was located on part of the site.  Site was field inspected, and site size was estimated by pacing the horizontal extent of observed graves.

 

Surveyed By:        T. Klatka & D. Richardson

Survey Date:         10/97

 

Field Notes:           _x_Yes   ___No

Photographs:        _x_Yes   ___No

 

Reference(s):         Roanoke Valley Historical Society

                                1986        Roanoke County Graveyards Through 1920. Privately printed, RVHS, Roanoke.

 

Additional Comments:  This cemetery was initially surveyed by the RVHS and their report provided the only known documentation of the site.  The report indicated that the cemetery was in poor state of preservation, and stated “...there are many fieldstones, but only one with an inscription, and it is prostate. It has clasped hand at the top and reads: Susan J. Trial / wife of J.P. Trail / D. Aug. 31, 1898 / aged 38 years”  (RVHS 1986:  199).  Only a fragment of this marker was observed during the 1997 survey.  A layer of sod had been placed on the area of the grave in the recent past and this sod covered the remainder of the marker.  Assigned temporal affiliation and name of site were based on the RVHS report documentation.  Site size was estimated by pacing the horizontal extent of surface indications of graves.  The cemetery is not marked on the USGS Roanoke map sheet, but it is plotted as an unlabeled parcel on local realty maps.

 

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