Volta Park Update

Last week, the DC blog Popville passed on a message it received from some residents near Volta Park who discovered what appeared to be fragments of bone at the field renovation construction site. Like many, I was alarmed to read that and I reached out to DPR for an explanation. I was able to speak with a staff member who gave me a full accounting of the situation, which I will share with you now.

Background History

Before I get into the more recent story, it’s important to give you a summary of the more distant past of this particular property (I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia page on the property, which is surprising extensive). The old Presbyterian Burial Ground was established here in 1802. For about half a century, this was the primary cemetery for Georgetowners, rich and poor alike. The establishment of Oak Hill Cemetery in northeast Georgetown challenged this status. Between the competition from Oak Hill and the fall in revenues that came from hosting fewer burials, the Presbyterian Burial Ground began a gradual decline in the second half of the 19th century.

By the late 1880s, internments ceased at the property and the cemetery was soon closed. But by that point, approximately 2,700 graves had been established, each of which could host multiple remains. A call went out to the family members of the interred to come and remove the remains. While many did so, the grim fact is that the vast majority of the graves were left. The cemetery continued to degrade and fall apart until finally in 1909 the city purchased the property to be converted to a playground. (Again, I recommend reading the Wikipedia article linked above, which has a fairly detailed blow-by-blow of this decline with some fairly shocking and gothic details.)

In the hundred plus years since then, many projects have been done in the park, with varying levels of sensitivity towards the hundreds (if not thousands) of remains that continue to, well, remain. These projects often disturbed the graves and caused bone fragments to be mixed up in the soil.

So this background story leads to two conditions that are relevant to the current situation: There are bone fragments found in the soil throughout the park and there are still undisturbed graves scattered around as well.

Present Day

So that takes us to last fall. As part of the field renovations, a series of French drains are being installed. These are long trenches, approximately 3-4 feet deep. They are critical to addressing the surface flooding that can impact the park after heavy rains. The crews successfully installed trenches along the western and southern edges of the park. Then the workers began digging a trench westward across the outfield from the pool area.

As they got about 20-30 feet across the field, the workers encountered what appears to be a fully intact grave. This was surprising because as the expression goes, most graves are “six feet under”, i.e. six feet deep. As mentioned above, the workers were digging only 3-4 feet down for the trenches.

Once the workers encountered the grave, the work stopped immediately. Throughout the project an archeologist has been on site at all times that digging is being done. When bones are found–which has happened multiple times on this project–the work stops and the archeologist takes over. They recover the bones and hold them until they can be re-buried on-site at a sufficiently deep spot.

This is the preferred method for dealing with these remains. The identity of the body is basically impossible to determine, so there’s no way they can be transferred to some distant descendant. And keeping them in the general spot that they were buried seems to be the most respectful outcome.

So while the crews were not surprised to find bones, they were surprised to find a full grave, and one so shallow at that. There are a couple possible explanations for the grave being so shallow. I was told that the most likely explanation is that it was an unauthorized burial. Perhaps the family simply wanted to avoid paying the fee and did it themselves (and thus not as deeply as an authorized burial would be). Another possibility is that the grave used to be deeper, but erosion or field leveling brought the surface closer. In either event, the decision was made to leave the grave as is. A wire mesh will be installed above it to prevent future unintended incursions.

The trench will be redirected around the grave. Also, since there’s a chance that other shallow graves are around, the trench will now be dug much less deep. Instead of 3-4 feet deep it will be about 15 inches deep. But this requires a specialized style of French drain that can work at shallower depths. (When we were being told that the delay was about waiting for a specialized pipe, this is what they were talking about).

But how does this explain the bones just being left out in the open that were photographed?

The bone fragments were in piles of dirt that had been excavated for the trenches. As I mentioned, as the soil has been dug up throughout this project, bone fragments have appeared. But why were they left in the pile out in the open? The explanation I was told was that they weren’t visible at the time the work stopped. But with weeks and months of rain since then, the dirt washed away and the fragments emerged.

In either event, the piles have been covered with a tarp since last week. I was told that the fragments would be collected by the archeologist as well, but I don’t know if that has happened as of Sunday night. They will be re-buried on site at some point.

Plan Going Forward

The discovery of the grave has added significant delays to the project. On top of the change in plans for the trench, a whole new set of approvals and permits needed to be issued. That simply takes time. But they anticipate finishing the work by April to May. Once it’s warm enough to install the new sod, that will go down. The field will be off-limits 1-2 months more after that point in order to give the grass time to grow.

Then the park will fully reopen. At least that’s the plan….