ACHS Spring Meeting

Bringing historic cemetery back to life topic of spring meeting

April 28 at 3 p.m.

Program: “Silent Stories: Preserving the Dutch Hollow Hanger Cemetery” by Glenn Hanger

Where: Old Providence ARP Church, 1005 Spottswood Rd, Steeles Tavern, VA 24476, program in the sanctuary, refreshments to follow in the fellowship hall. 

Pre-meeting field trip: Dutch Hollow Hanger Cemetery, 12-2 p.m. For those who wish to visit the cemetery before the program, Glenn Hanger and others will be available at the cemetery to show people around and answer questions. (Directions to the cemetery: 913 Wagon Shop Road, Middlebrook, VA 24459, upon arrival follow the signs to the cemetery parking area.) Program is free and open to the public. 

In 2021, Glenn Hanger, who was newly retired, decided to begin the task of restoring the historic cemetery across from his house. He knew some of those buried in the cemetery were his ancestors, but many others were not. He also knew that the cemetery was very old. The task was a daunting one. Only a couple of stones were standing and the entire cemetery was enveloped in invasive vines, bushes, and trees. Livestock had damaged many stones and others were simply buried many inches deep as soil on the hillside cemetery had slowly worked its way downhill. 

Three years later, the cemetery tract is cleared, fenced in, and over 70 stones stand to mark the burial site of Augusta’s earliest settlers. The work has taken both brawn and brains. The brawn has come in clearing the invasive vegetation, finding and re-erecting stone markers long buried under the soil on the southern Augusta County hillside, and building a fence. But Hanger has done so much more than tidy up the land. He has meticulously researched the stories of those buried at the Dutch Hollow Hanger Cemetery and untangled the complicated family trees. His research has even uncovered the stories of some of the men who carved the stone markers. 

Recently, because of his work, the cemetery has been listed by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) on the Virginia Landmarks Register and will soon be on the National Register of Historic Places as well. The DHR website describes the cemetery as containing “the graves of some of the first German immigrant settlers to inhabit the community known as Dutch Hollow and the surrounding area in the early to mid-1700s. The earliest known burial dates to 1798, with the last known burial dating to 1919. Collectively, the cemetery’s grave markers are a significant display of funerary art, with headstones that include improved fieldstones, fashioned limestone, local sandstone, shaped markers inscribed in Germanic script, and marble markers made by known artisan marble-cutters.…The work of these artisans included motifs such as foliated carving, folk symbols, including the seven-pointed star and five petal blossoms associated with Germanic folk culture.”

And, even though there are now more than 70 stones standing in the cemetery, in the 18th and 19th centuries, many grave markers were wooden or simple stones that have long vanished. Suspecting that there were many more graves at the cemetery than there were stones, Hanger contacted James Madison University professor Carole Nash who has had her students map the cemetery using ground penetrating radar. Complementing that work has been veterinarian Dr. Kathleen Connor whose trained cadaver dogs help locate burials from the distant past. The results have been exciting and both Connor and Nash will share some of their discoveries as part of the program at the church.

Those who would like to learn more about the Dutch Hollow Hanger Cemetery before the meeting can visit the website that Hanger has created at dhhcemetery.org. Watch for more information on the meeting on Facebook and through the Society’s eblasts. We hope to see you out in southern Augusta County on Sunday April 28. As always, the ACHS Spring Meeting and the visit to the cemetery are free and open to the public.