Bringing business opportunities to central Virginia
The Henrico County Economic Development Agency (EDA) operates the White Oak Technology Park, a master-planned, publicly owned industrial park located outside of Richmond, Virginia. To assist the EDA in preparing parcels for sale to manufacturing facilities and data centers, AECOM conducted Phase II archaeological evaluations, the delineation of four historic cemeteries, and the relocation of two historic cemeteries. All work was conducted following the Virginia Department of Historic Resources’ (DHR) Guidelines for Conducting Historic Resources Survey in Virginia (2018), under burial permits issued by DHR pursuant to Section 10.1-2305 of the Code of Virginia, and pursuant to a Consent Order and Settlement Agreement negotiated in good faith between the EDA and the descendant families.
Throughout the project, AECOM worked with the EDA and descendant families of to ensure their voices were heard and taken into consideration in project execution and that the delineations, exhumations, relocations, and reburials were conducted with dignity and respect. The cemetery within which burials were relocated was fenced with a new road provided to allow for access by the descendant families, selected headstones were repaired, and memorial plaques were added for the newly relocated and existing burials. The archaeological investigations focused on determining the historical significance of three historic farmsteads collectively ranging from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century and which were associated with the cemeteries.