- When a Georgia airport expanded a runway during World War II, it paved over a family burial site.
- The family’s descendants allowed all but four of the 100 graves to be moved.
- Two graves remain at the edge of runway 10 and 28, while two more are off to the side.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
While runway 10 at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia may not be a particularly difficult or scary landing, it does involve touching down near a pair of graves.
The international airport was built on former farmland, according to its website.
When the Savannah airport needed to expand during World War II, the land included a burial site belonging to the Dotson family, according to the airport’s website. It was estimated to have had about 100 graves, including those of slaves.
The removal of the graves was met with resistance from descendants of the Dotson family, according to The State, a newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina. Ultimately, all but four of the graves were relocated to Bonaventure Cemetery, the media outlet Wide Open Country reported in 2019.
Believing that their ancestors wouldn’t have wanted to abandon the land they worked to cultivate, the Dotson family insisted on keeping the matriarch and patriarch in their original burial spot, according to The State.
Video: Flight 93 Families Open Nominations For New Heroism Award (CBS Pittsburgh)
Reporter Update: Masking Guidance For The Most Vulnerable
CBS Pittsburgh
Reporter Update: Questions Surround Masking In School
CBS Pittsburgh
KDKA-TV Afternoon Forecast (5/14)
CBS Pittsburgh
Beaver County Memorializes 2 Officers For National Police Week
CBS Pittsburgh
Swastika Found Drawn In Lincoln Elementary Bathroom
CBS Pittsburgh
Police Investigating Bank Robbery In Brookline
CBS Pittsburgh
Suspect Arrested In South Side Arson
CBS Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania Adopts CDC Mask Guidelines For Fully Vaccinated
CBS Pittsburgh
Returning To Downtown: Pittsburgh RV Show Begins This Weekend (Pt. 2)
CBS Pittsburgh
Returning To Downtown: Pittsburgh RV Show Begins This Weekend (Pt. 1)
CBS Pittsburgh
Route 28 Reopens After Crash
CBS Pittsburgh
Bear Spotted In Forward Township
CBS Pittsburgh
Alice Cooper Selling Andy Warhol Painting
CBS Pittsburgh
Officials Says Amazon Air Is First-Class Deal For Pittsburgh International Airport
CBS Pittsburgh
CDC Says Vaccinated People Can Go Maskless, But Some Businesses Still Require It
CBS Pittsburgh
Man Facing Arson Charges In Massive Fire That Destroyed Historic South Side Building
CBS Pittsburgh
Reporter Update: Masking Guidance For The Most Vulnerable
KDKA Health Editor Dr. Maria Simbra is talking with local doctors about what people with serious health concerns should do now that mask guidelines are changing.
CBS Pittsburgh
Reporter Update: Questions Surround Masking In School
With new CDC guidance just released about masking, there are now many questions for schools about who can go maskless and when; KDKA's Nicole Ford reports.
CBS Pittsburgh
KDKA-TV Afternoon Forecast (5/14)
Stay on top of local weather with meteorologist Ron Smiley’s 7-day forecast!
CBS Pittsburgh
The graves of Richard and Catherine Dotson, the farmers who originally owned the land and died in 1884 and 1877, sit on the edges of runways 10 and 28. The marker on Richard’s grave says “At rest,” while Catherine’s says “Gone home to rest,” according to The State.
Two more graves of Dotson relatives – those of Daniel Hueston and John Dotson – can be found nearby in the brush near the airport’s most active runway, according to the airport’s website.
The airport website says these graves are “the only ones in the world embedded in an active, 9,350-foot runway.”
“It’s said that if you are coming in to land just after sundown, two figures will appear just along the north side of the runway,” a regional airline captain, Lisa Ruedy, wrote for the website All Things Aero, according to The State.
Family members are allowed to visit with an airport escort, according to The State, though they are not permitted to leave flowers. It is, after all, an active runway.
The airport did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
This is an update of an article originally written by Sophie-Claire Hoeller.
Source: Read Full Article