Rhonda Long still tends the graves of relatives who died over the past 170 years, in a rural cemetery where generations of her family are laid to rest.
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Rhonda Long still tends the graves of relatives who died over the past 170 years, in a rural cemetery where generations of her family are laid to rest.
But she says the future of Purcell Cemetery – located on a farm field near Wardsville, remains in doubt.
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The cemetery contains roughly 500 graves, and almost all of the occupants have a connection to Archibald Purcell, a man who came to the area over 200 years ago.
“Somehow, somewhere, I have connections in my family tree to probably higher than 90 per cent of the people in the cemetery,” said Long, a London resident whose ancestors founded the cemetery in 1848.
A Londoner still tends the graves of her relatives, who’ve died over the past 170 years, in a rural cemetery where generations of her family are laid to rest.