The second annual meeting to discuss clean up and preservation of the Dixon Cemetery of Concord, VA, was held Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015 at 2:30 pm at the Historic Campbell County Courthouse in Rustburg, VA.
The following were in attendance: Aubrey W. Booth, Ed Booth, Dolly Cardwell, Will Cardwell, Revely Carwile, Jr., Anne Coffey, Frank Coffey, Mary Gough, James Hamilton, Jim Henderson, Will Henderson, Mike Kellam, Austin Quick, Bob Ware, Sally Ware.
Will Cardwell briefly reviewed his priories to (1) clarify and strengthen the trusteeship of the cemetery and its supporting organization and (2) improve physical access to the cemetery. For now he offered to continue his coordinating role for another year unless someone else would like to lead the friends of the cemetery group. There were no suggestions for change in this regard. There has been no significant cleanup work done since our work Saturdays last Fall. The Dixon Cemetery now has a website maintained by Will at www.DixonCem.org.
Good news was announced. Mr. James Hamilton has agreed to give right of way on his property for location of a driveway toward the cemetery. The driveway would run along his South fence border with Mr. Gilliam’s property and would require much less excavation and no stump removals as compared with the lay of the land on the other side of the fence. An opening through the fence at the upper (West) end of this access road would allow a leftward course onto the Gilliam property leading from there a short distance on even land to the cemetery. Mr Hamilton was thanked with an enthusiastic round of applause for his generosity and support.
Aubrey and Will met with Mr. Hugh Jones III, attorney, regarding right of way agreements and other issues regarding the Dixon. Expanding the trustees was discussed and how best for us to organize. Mr. Jones can draw up right of ways but he will first research how we should be legally organized and advise us. Aubrey asked Mr. Jones to find out if the existing chain link fence could be used as the cemetery boundary as suggested by Mr. Al Neighbors, a surveyor whom Aubrey had previously consulted. Aubrey and Will had also consulted Ray Booth, Civil Engineer, for advice regarding the right of way and surveying of the cemetery. Mr. Hamilton said that the chain link fence was installed around 1961 to keep out the cows which had been knocking over grave markers.
Sally Ware asked: “Who owns the cemetery?” One answer offered was that the public owns the cemetery as it was deeded that way in 1873. Revely answered that the trustees own the cemetery. The court should have a copy of the deed and that an updated board of trustees should go before the judge. Revely also said that a surveyor needs to do the work of finding the corner of the cemetery and surveying the boundaries according to the survey metes and bounds found in the deed. Revely said the “tax map” should show the cemetery. Al Neighbors had the tax map with him when he walked the cemetery with Aubrey and others.
Mary Gough inquired about the tax status of the cemetery. It is expected that Mr. Jones will answer that question and whether IRS 501(c)(3) status is necessary. Austin advised that Jane White, leader of the Old City Cemetery renovation, be consulted. The most recent record of Dixon Cemetery trustees and officers is recorded in a Lynchburg News article of Nov. 21 1948. Of those trustees and officers, only the elder Mr. George M. Evans is known to be living today.
Sally asked about the liability of the cemetery against law suits. It was voiced that we as a friends group advise those who come onto Dixon Cemetery property to do so at their own risk. It is expected that this issue will be addressed by the lawyer.
Revely has surveyed and recorded about 40 per cent of the graves, grave by grave. Jim Henderson turned over to Will Cardwell digital CDs with files containing history that Jim’s uncle Dr. Joseph Evans wrote and collected in relation to the Dixon. Jim said that his family allows free distribution of the CD content. We as friends of the cemetery are very grateful to Jim’s family for this donation. Will and Jim will work together to store the information in an appropriate place online for all to access.
Aubrey would like to see on our website, interesting stories regarding the military service of veterans buried in the Dixon. These would be developed by descendants, the DAR and others.
We began planning for cleanup days this Fall. Sally wants to know how we can prevent going back to square one every Fall because the weeds and brush grow back each year. Revely said we should use weed and brush killer. Aubrey said that we need to cut the trees down. Will said that if we do what we did last Fall each year, that he believes progress is being made, since large falling limbs and some dead trees are being removed, allowing easier passage, if you are careful, through the cemetery. This removed debris doesn’t return. Also the small trees only grow back to a limited size in one year and therefore can be cut back easily with pruning tools. Focusing on getting a driveway completed will make it more inviting for one or two people to drive up and do clearing work with little planning. Nevertheless it was felt by some that a clean up should be scheduled in the Spring as well as the Fall. Use of county work release crews to do clean up work in the cemetery was recommended if someone would make the contacts and coordinate this activity.
The chain link fence around the cemetery needs much repair.
It was suggested that the names Dickerson and Dickson as well as Dixon should be key words that would find hits on our website since people may misspell Dixon in their searches.
Brush piles at the cemetery need to be burned. Austin will call for help from our group when he thinks it is a good time to burn, whether or not it is on a group work day.
The group set the Saturday work days this Fall for these four days: Oct. 31, Nov. 7, Nov 14 and Nov 21. Hours will be 9 am to about 3 pm each day and Sandwich lunches will be provided with the help of volunteers Ann Coffey, Sally Ware and Dolly Cardwell.
The meeting was adjourned around 4 o’clock.
– Minutes written by Will Cardwell