GLEN ALLEN, Va. — A local developer is opting to move a family cemetery to make way for a new subdivision in western Henrico County. Duke Development is applying for a permit from the state to relocate eight graves on the site of a planned 59-home subdivision off Nuckols Road, just west of its interchange with Interstate 295.
Developer G. Brian Duke, who is working with partner Robert Dewbury on the subdivision, acknowledged the graves last October, when the project received support from the county Planning Commission. A required rezoning was approved by county supervisors the next month.
At that time, Duke said he had hired an archaeologist to assess the cemetery and determine whether the graves could be relocated. Duke, who did not return requests for comment for this story, said the graves were in the path of a planned extension of Parkland Drive, which would serve as one of two entrances to the development.
The archaeologist, Lyle Browning of Midlothian-based Browning & Associates, is handling the permit application for Duke. He said he plans to file the application with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources after a required 45-day public comment period, which is set to expire Feb. 11.
Browning said the graves are believed to belong to members of a family who once owned the property. The graves include one headstone, for James Robert Wade, a World War I veteran who died in 1951.
Others buried at the site are believed to be members of Wade’s family. Browning said a document from the Henrico County Historical Society states that the family, who were farmers and blacksmiths, purchased more than 100 acres in Henrico after moving from neighboring Goochland County in the late 1800s. A private road on the property, which is beside Twin Hickory, is called New Wade Lane.
