Peggy Kreimer - The Kentucky Post (Northern KY~Metro Cincy) ~ 4/21/1999
The occupants of a little 19th century cemetery at Ky. 17 and Hands Pike in Covington got a new address this week - the 15 graves were moved to Independence Cemetery, about four miles south on Ky. 17.
The property near Hands Pike is being developed, and part of the land was sold to the state to make room for widening Ky. 17.
"With the new road plan, the graves were going to wind up being right next to the highway," said Herbert Moore Jr., who is developing the land with his brother, Charlie Moore.
The Moores contacted the relatives of people buried in the cemetery and arranged to move the entire cemetery to Independence Cemetery, retaining its configuration and the graves' relationships to each other.
The process was two years in the making, including state permits and required pubic notices that had to run repeatedly in local newspapers, said Herbert Moore. They hired a New York-based company that specializes in moving cemeteries to exhume the bodies and move them to the new cemetery.
"They were very professional and thorough and very sensitive to the family members who were there," said Tom Honebrink, general manager of Highland Cemetery and Independence Cemetery.
"We wanted to maintain the absolute dignity of these people," said Moore. The Moores paid for the new cemetery plots, concrete vaults and burial services. All the headstones are being cleaned and will be replaced over the graves in a few weeks. Some new headstones will be carved for graves that were not marked in the old cemetery.
"They did this very respectfully," said Honebrink. "They didn't cut any corners on expense."
The cemetery held graves of people who died from 1830 through 1900, and included several infants. Moore said descendants of those reburied were at the gravesites on Monday.
The property near Hands Pike is being developed, and part of the land was sold to the state to make room for widening Ky. 17.
"With the new road plan, the graves were going to wind up being right next to the highway," said Herbert Moore Jr., who is developing the land with his brother, Charlie Moore.
The Moores contacted the relatives of people buried in the cemetery and arranged to move the entire cemetery to Independence Cemetery, retaining its configuration and the graves' relationships to each other.
The process was two years in the making, including state permits and required pubic notices that had to run repeatedly in local newspapers, said Herbert Moore. They hired a New York-based company that specializes in moving cemeteries to exhume the bodies and move them to the new cemetery.
"They were very professional and thorough and very sensitive to the family members who were there," said Tom Honebrink, general manager of Highland Cemetery and Independence Cemetery.
"We wanted to maintain the absolute dignity of these people," said Moore. The Moores paid for the new cemetery plots, concrete vaults and burial services. All the headstones are being cleaned and will be replaced over the graves in a few weeks. Some new headstones will be carved for graves that were not marked in the old cemetery.
"They did this very respectfully," said Honebrink. "They didn't cut any corners on expense."
The cemetery held graves of people who died from 1830 through 1900, and included several infants. Moore said descendants of those reburied were at the gravesites on Monday.
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