Descendants of Isaac and John Chapman of
Orange/Culpeper/Montgomery/Giles county might be interested to hear of
plans to repair and renovate the cemetery at Mt. Prospect near
Ripplemead, VA, in Giles county.
I've created a website about the cemetery at
www.ChapmanCemetery.net
where you can learn more about the history and current condition of
the Chapman graveyard. The 1st burial was in 1813, the last in 1899.
Local historians have seemed disinterested, the DAR chapter has been
unresponsive (perhaps non-existent), and efforts at securing legal
protection of the historic site have been fruitless. My son Will and
daughter McKensey, distressed at the deteriorating condition of the
site (and the destruction of the homestead ruins a few years ago),
have agitated for us to undertake some improvements, which we will
begin November 6th.
We hope to restore it to its probable appearance 30 or 40 years ago,
while leaving it lost in the woods and in time. We'll be repairing
the falling wall and restoring some tumbled headstones, removing
smaller trees and shrubs and vines, and putting a sign by the entrance
identifying it as an historic site. While we're there, we also hope
to find the grave of Henley Chapman, a Virginia legislator, who is
said to be buried there but for whom there is no visible gravemarker.
Rees Chapman
Dahlonega GA
email: winwinsit at Gmail dot com