About 40 Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, historians, American Legion and VFW vets filled Radford’s Central Cemetery on a stormy evening to mend broken headstones, tidy and just make the place feel more lived in.
Six Cub Scouts from Pack 244 were present including Tarik Tomas, Keating and Sutton Smith, Joseph Epley, Caleb Samms, and Jehu Maxwell and four Girl Scouts from Troop 877.
Central Cemetery, an historically important landmark in Radford, is the last resting place of at least 39 Civil War veterans (37 Confederates and, it is unclear how, but two Union soldiers), children and local families. From the dates on the headstones, some may have fought in the Mexican-American War in 1845.
The cleanup was inspired by a recent spate of vandalism that overturned or broke headstones.
While the cemetery has a fund to tend it and a caretaker, the land is not fenced and vandalism is not uncommon.
“I think keeping the cemetery up to date and having a presence there will deter future vandalism. I was very pleased with all the work that occurred,” Renee Maxwell, a Cub Scout mother, and organizer of the event said.
When the groups were assessing and planning the cleanup, they counted 23 headstones that were toppled, working together to re-erect all of them.
“We got what we could,” Dana Jackson, a local historian and a member of the American Legion and the VFW said. “It wasn’t easy. It took a tower of strength. Those things were heavy!”
Jackson was one of several historians present who were knowledgeable and experienced in the technicalities of restoring historic artifacts and monuments.
“You can learn a lot about community from its cemetery,” he said.
With adhesive and muscle, young and old people worked all evening on the hillside.
“I think this is something we would like to do again,” Pack Leader Holly Moore said. “I think it was a really valuable community service for the Cub Scouts to do. I would not mind making it an annual even—either as a summer event or in the fall. Summer is usually easier. “
For more information or to get involved with the Central Cemetery, call 540-382-6171.
