h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Pennhall, Virginia
October 18, 2006

You could easily overlook the little graveyard by the side of the gravel road. There are about 20 graves clustered together under two oak trees. The simplest markers are simply a stone moved from nearby. Perhaps no one knew the words to carve a remembrance. It was illegal to teach slaves to read or write. Some of the gravestones have a few words carved rudely “Fannie -1909”. Others with dates are from 1906 and 1913.

These people worked the fields and at a mansion just down the gravel road called “Pennhall”. They may have been slaves who stayed on to work the farm for the masters after the Civil War ended in 1865. They were poor people, in contrast to those that lived in the big house.

There is one marker made of concrete which has broken in half and is flat in the dirt. I pick it up to try to reset it. There are worms making a home there so I put it back. There is no sign of the old slave quarters.

A local electric company purchased the mansion and grounds and uses the house for employee meetings in the country. They lease the land to local farmers. A huge black bull moves lazily to the middle of the road, blocking our exit for a time.

http://community.webshots.com/slideshow?ID=554924131

Interesting photos, Phred, but a bit sad as well. There is a small family cemetery in a pasture north of WC along Center Creek. We used to fish there when I was a kid and I was always fascinated by the little cemetery.

one of them was plain creepy - you blacked and whited it. I always wonder about the people under these stones. Where they came from, what they did, what they wished they could do, and how they died...

Whole books have been created because people started such speculations.

Don't forget stories around campfires.

I'm thinking, I'm thinking...........can't you smell the smoke?