Seeing steam or smoke or something rise from the hood of our car while on the way home from the Williamsburg area on Saturday afternoon, we pulled over and called the Auto Club ~ my new favorite friend. By the luck of the draw, we were taken to an auto shop in a fairly new shopping center in Centerville, Virginia.
At the corner of Linton Hill Road and U.S. 29, Located across from Virginia Tire and Auto of Gainesville and close to Subway and El Tio’s Mexican Grill, a small family cemetery has been preserved. 
With nothing but time on my hands, I wandered over to photograph the cemetery and all of the headstones in it . . . all four of them!
Scattered here and there are what appears to be worn markers or large rounded pieces of stone. Speculation leads me to believe they are worn markers. 
Surrounded by a black iron fence, the cemetery has an unlocked gate on it. Faded and hard to read, the sign on the outside of the fence gives a little history of the cemetery.
Evidently the Shirley family, Richard in particular, owned 400 acres in the area. He was a farmer and a Tavern Keeper. Richard, his wife and at least two of his children are buried in this plot. When the land was developed the cemetery was preserved. The maintenance and upkeep of the site is now maintained by the developers as part of the property.
So many times you hear the opposite. Developers buy the land and cemeteries and headstones are moved and/or are lost forever. Kudos to the developers!
My car? What about my car? Well, it appears there is enough unused space to bury it in that cemetery but, I’m sure that will never happen! We will wait out this holiday weekend in a motel room, biding our time until Monday morning when the above referenced Tire and Auto shop can order and replace the tiny little pressurized hose that cracked.
Happy Easter from the Hampton Inn in Gainesville, Virginia where we hope to find a restaurant within walking distance is open on Sunday. . . .
