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Ground Penetrating Radar Systems helps
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Dave Schaff methodically worked his way up and down and from side to side across the freshly mown field, looking for buried traces of lives lost in time.
Using radar and battling an unforgiving sun, the sweat-drenched Schaff was hoping to locate unmarked graves in an aging, rural cemetery along Miss. 304 west of Hernando.
The committee that maintains the property for First Baptist Church of Eudora hired Schaff, regional manager of Nashville-based Ground Penetrating Radar Systems Inc.
By about 10 a.m. Thursday, Schaff had identified three sites believed to be graves. A few others, where at least partial markers are still in place, were already known.
"I'm surprised he hasn't found more," said Simon Dean, who headed the effort to bring Schaff in for the survey.
Dean was sitting atop a tractor, which he used to bush-hog the site so Schaff could go over it with his three-wheeled cart carrying a radar that uses electromagnetic waves to check for disturbances in the soil.
Schaff said his company does this kind of work from time to time, though the bulk of its business is for construction companies.
Dean and the cemetery committee hope to reopen the property as a cemetery but need to locate any existing graves before proceeding with plans. The cemetery would be a supplement to the current Eudora Baptist Church Cemetery.
"This is still classified as a cemetery," Dean said, "so I thought if I opened it up and put a decent price on it, people might be interested in buying plots."
It has been years since the property has been used as a cemetery. One of the few remaining markers, for someone named Turner, shows he was buried in 1886. His wife was buried in 1901.
Until recent efforts to clear the land, it's doubtful most people knew a cemetery was there.
Charles Garrison, a member of the DeSoto County Genealogical Society, stood against a truck watching Thursday morning's activity. He said his group did a digital record in 2005-06 of all the county's cemeteries.
He wasn't sure what was at this site, but was curious to see the results.
For his part, Dean said as much as redeveloping the cemetery, he just wants to know how many people are buried there.
"I have a lot of people come looking for family who they say was buried in Eudora Cemetery," he said. "It would just be nice to know how many are here. They found a grave on the property next door when they put in the septic system. People have told us this cemetery used to be full."
