Summerlee Foundation

Malachi McMahon GPR
, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Finding Unmarked Graves at PVAMU

GPR_003

Finding Unmarked Graves at PVAMU

 

 

On March 12 and 13, 2024, Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc. invited ground penetrating radar specialists Dr. Chet Walker and Aundrea Thompson to visit the campus of Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) and conduct several geophysical examinations of the historic burial ground of Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery.

 

 

This project is funded through the Summerlee Foundation.

GPR_003
GPR_003
LIDAR DRONE 001
LIDAR DRONE 003
Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker met with project director and PVAMU Assistant Professor of History DeWayne Moore to learn more about the grant from the Summerlee Foundation.

Aundrea Thompson, Dr. Chet Walker, and Dr. DeWayne Moore

Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker met with project director and PVAMU Assistant Professor of History DeWayne Moore to learn more about the grant from the Summerlee Foundation.
Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker

The archeologists

Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker
Dr. Moore's son, Noah, surveys the cemetery with students workers on the Digital PV Panther Project--Noah Jackson, Zynitra Durham, and Jaylynn Brantley

Student Engagement

Dr. Moore’s son, Noah, surveys the cemetery with students workers on the Digital PV Panther Project–Noah Jackson, Zynitra Durham, and Jaylynn Brantley
LIDAR DRONE 001

The archaeologists

In the spring of 2006, Dr. Walker founded Archaeo-Geophysical Associates, LLC, an archaeological consulting firm specializing in geophysical prospection. Since that time, he has collected geophysical data on over 150 archaeological sites, now totaling much more than 1,539 Acres of Gradiometer, 115 Acres of Ground-Penetrating Radar, and 484 Acres of Electromagnetic Induction Meter.

Aundrea Thompson studied at the University of Wyoming, and she has worked as a forensic archaeologist on numerous projects in the past ten years. For more on one project, in which she located the remains of a World War II soldier and brought his remains back to the US for burial, please click HERE

Aundrea Thompson's Graduate Work
GPR_003
GPR_003
DPPP logo
GPR_003
LIDAR DRONE 001
LIDAR DRONE 003
GPR_003

 

Hauling their geophysical prospection equipment in a large pick-up truck from Palestine, Texas, where they had been working at another archaeological site, Aundrea and Chet planned to spend two days on campus before driving to Magnolia, Texas to collaborate with the Houston Archaeological Society on a dig site.

At PVAMU, Chet and Aundrea planned to run the ground-penetrating radar over the entire five acre field to determine the size of the burial ground. In addition, they intended to scan the field with an electromagnetic induction meter as well as LIDAR [or Light Detection and Ranging], which is attached to a large drone and scans an estimated 120 acre area.

Chet Walker Locates Remains in Alabama
In this image, you can see how running the GPR looks on the grass. Making an imprint similar to that of a lawn mower, Chet and Aundrea covered the entire field, hoping to determine the size of the burial ground.

Ground Penetrating Radar

In this image, you can see how running the GPR looks on the grass. Making an imprint similar to that of a lawn mower, Chet and Aundrea covered the entire field, hoping to determine the size of the burial ground.
By scanning the entire field, the teams intends to use the data from GPR to corroborate data obtained during the pedestrian survey in October 2023. We hope to determine the locations of graves and the size of the burial ground.

Scanning the Entire Field

By scanning the entire field, the teams intends to use the data from GPR to corroborate data obtained during the pedestrian survey in October 2023. We hope to determine the locations of graves and the size of the burial ground.
LIDAR DRONE 001

The cemetery

The burial ground is associated with and named after an African American church founded in the 1890s by Reverend George W. Wyatt, a one-time school teacher and politician who represented Waller and Fort Bend Counties in the state legislature in the 1880s. Based on slave schedules, Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery might contain hundreds of graves of enslaved people, formerly enslaved people, and their descendants. It sits on the former slave labor plantation of Jared E. Kirby, who, in 1860, owned more enslaved people (159) than any other planter in Austin County. No one made a formal record of these burials, however, and the historic burial ground, which is located behind University Village Phase III, was over time abandoned, especially after 1961, with the establishment of nearby Prairie View Memorial Gardens. Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery contains only a handful of marked graves, but it holds forever close the remains of three United States military veterans. 

THE WYATT CHAPEL CEMETERY PROJECT
GPR_003
GPR_003

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)

LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.
Chet and Aundrea have several drones that can carry up to 22 pounds of equipment.

Drone with LIDAR

Chet and Aundrea have several drones that can carry up to 22 pounds of equipment.

Pre-Set Navigation

With pre-set navigational controls, the drone flies back and forth in straight lines, capturing data about the contours of the earth over a 120 square mile area.
GPR_003

Chet and Aundrea completed the data collection using ground penetrating radar for the entire five acre field, and they obtained LIDAR data using the drone, but they plan to return later in March 2024 to complete data collection with the magnetometer. Once all the data is collected, they will analyze their findings independently and objectively, and they will submit their findings to Dr. Nesta Anderson, of Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc., who will meet with Dr. Moore and Pamela Morgan, of the Wyatt Chapel Descendants Committee, to compare the results to the findings from the pedestrian survey. 

DPPP logo

Digital PV Panther Project
John B. Coleman Library
Room 111
Prairie View, Texas 77446

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 936-261-3512

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE CEMETERY PROJECT
We cleaned the headstone of veteran Milo Wilson with D2 biological solution in October 2023, and it looks amazing in 2024.

The Headstone of Milo Wilson

We cleaned the headstone of veteran Milo Wilson with D2 biological solution in October 2023, and it looks amazing in 2024.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

Summerlee-Promo-Pic-1
Wyatt Chapel after GPR
MIlo Wilson Headstone after D2
Noah & Aundrea Walking Wyatt
Noah at Wyatt
thumbnail_IMG_2654
, , , , , , , , ,

Pedestrian Survey of Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery

Pedestrian Survey of Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery

By Evelyn Todd
PVAMU students and alumni as well as members of the Waller County Historical Commission and the Prairie View Heritage Committee prepare to begin the survey on October 21, 2023 [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
PVAMU students and alumni as well as members of the Waller County Historical Commission and the Prairie View Heritage Committee prepare to begin the survey on October 21, 2023 [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]

On October 21, we met with the Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc. team at the Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery. We began the second phase of the cemetery study, where we conducted the Archaeological Pedestrian Survey.

The archaeologists led a team of student volunteers in an intensive pedestrian survey of the project area. We anticipated to cover 3-5 acres in size. Archaeologists worked with small groups of students, teaching them basic pedestrian survey techniques. After the pastor of the Wyatt Chapel Baptist Church prayed and blessed the team, the survey began.

 

A community volunteer searches for unmarked graves [Photo © Evelyn Todd, 2023]
A community volunteer searches for unmarked graves [Photo © Evelyn Todd, 2023]
Nesta Anderson documenting unmarked graves with PVAMU students [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Nesta Anderson documenting unmarked graves with PVAMU students [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]

As we marked and mapped out the gravesite, the archaeologists also worked with the students to record the Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery as an archaeological site. This will provide it with a state-registered trinomial. Students worked with archaeologists to record the burial ground in the field on a TexSite form. We plan to submit and contact the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) in Austin to obtain the trinomial.

The small groups walked the project area in transects spaced 30 meters (m) apart, looking for evidence of grave markers, grave tending artifacts, depressions, or other potential indicators of the presence of burials. After we marked these features with pin flags, the archaeologists taught participants  how to map the burial site with a handheld Trimble GPS unit. Since we hoped to disturb the burial ground as little as possible, we did not collect any artifacts as part of the pedestrian survey. Instead, we photographed grave marker and grave tending artifacts in the field.

Rows of possible unmarked graves marked with flags [Photo © Evelyn Todd, 2023]
Rows of possible unmarked graves marked with flags [Photo © Evelyn Todd, 2023]
Lindsay Boknight looking for unmarked graves during the pedestrian survey on October 21, 2023 [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Lindsay Boknight looking for unmarked graves during the pedestrian survey on October 21, 2023 [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Summerlee Promo Pic
Nesta Anderson and Melanie Nichols explaining to students and alumni the process of recording unmarked burials in a cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Nesta Anderson and Melanie Nichols explaining to students and alumni the process of recording unmarked burials in a cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]

There were a few surprising finds during the survey. We were shocked to realize how large the gravesite was compared to the estimations. Students marked off graves along most of the fence lines. We also found grave tending materials around a tree closer to the front of the walking path than expected.

 

The headstone of Elsie Bailey after initial cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The headstone of Elsie Bailey after initial cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The broken headstone of Albert "Pap" Colling [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The broken headstone of Albert “Pap” Colling [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
We also learned a new technique for determining burial spots. Using the pin flags, we were told to push them into the ground in areas we believed marked a grave. If the pin flag was restricted from going too far into the ground, that was used as a point of interest to where someone may have been buried. Using this method, we found areas in the cemetery where there appeared to be parallel rows of burials. This method also helped us find possible burial sites near a group of 3 trees. At these trees, students also found a large cluster of grave tending materials and grave borders, which tends to signify a family was buried there.

 

Based on reports in the early 2000s, this gravesite was unknowingly being used as a dumping ground. Once this was found out, the powers that be had the trash moved. However, the trash was bulldozed further back and to the right onto that land and fenced in. As we worked on the Pedestrian Survey, we could get a whiff of the trash behind the fence as we got closer to the fence or if the wind blew. The pastor of Wyatt Chapel Baptist Church and others from the community believe that cemetery extends to where the trash now sits.

 

The military headstone of Luther B. Felder over a year after cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The military headstone of Luther B. Felder over a year after cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The headstone of Milo Wilson Jr. after the initial cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The headstone of Milo Wilson Jr. after the initial cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Towards the end of the survey, Nesta Anderson and Melanie Nichols–of Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc–went over the fence and performed an examination of the trash pile. We plan to report our findings to the Texas Historical Commission, which will offer guidance on the removal of the trash.  In doing this, it will help us to get written authorization from the THC to remove the garbage and survey that land as well.

 

Melanie Nichols, Gregory Newton, Nesta Anderson, and Sabrina Francis record the last of the unmarked burials in the cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Melanie Nichols, Gregory Newton, Nesta Anderson, and Sabrina Francis record the last of the unmarked burials in the cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Gregory Newton leans over to examine one of the many field stones uncovered in the cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Gregory Newton leans over to examine one of the many field stones uncovered in the cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Overall, the second phase of the cemetery study was successful, and the team plans to move on to the third phase in the upcoming spring semester. 

 

 

 

The Digital PV Panther Project looks forward to receiving feedback from both Legacy Cultural Resources and the Texas Historical Commission in 2024!

 

 

Our mission at the Digital PV Panther Project is to eliminate historical silences through digital storytelling and prevent the erasure of African American history through historic preservation at PVAMU.