Identification of Historic Burials at the Nabors Family Cemetery, Dade County, Georgia

As part of a Request for a Permit to Disinter/Reinter Human Remains at the Nabors family cemetery in Dade County, Georgia, the Stein Construction Company contracted with the author for archaeological services in order to identify the presence of historic burials. The cemetery is located off Old Wauhatchee Pike, just below the Hamilton County Tennessee/Dade County, Georgia state line (Figure 1). A parcel of land surrounding the cemetery area is currently being cleared and graded by Stein, and will be the site of a large warehouse complex. The project area is bounded on the north by Conagra Food Services property, on the east and south by the Louisville and Nashville rail line, and on the west by Old Wauhatchee Pike/US 11.

It will be necessary to relocate the family cemetery to allow completion of the construction project. At the time of the fieldwork two gravestones were situated in a highly overgrown “island” of trees and understory. The cemetery is in a small level area that falls off sharply to the north, south, and west; immediately to the east is a bulldozed roadbed that former landowner Jack Gill stated was constructed during the 1960s. A temporary construction road is east of and adjacent to the earlier road.

Archaeological fieldwork at the Nabors cemetery occurred during June 27 and 28, 2002, and resulted in the identification of two burials associated with extant headstones/footstones and an unmarked burial that closely corresponds to a third documented interment for which no marker was present. Along with analysis of materials recovered during the testing, this finding closely matches information provided by the Sue Forrester, the Project Genealogist hired by the sponsor, as well as oral history information from family descendants and Jack Gill.