Man surprised to learn his ancestors’ graves are being moved to new site

MONROE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Families of loved ones in Monroe thought their ancestors were in their final resting place, only to find out their graves are being dug up and moved.

You never know what you’ll find when you dig up the past.

“It’s changed our life considerably,” said Andy Small, whose ancestors’ graves are being moved.

Small and his wife had already unearthed his family tree.

“Going back through records, we discovered that,” said Small.

He knew about his great-great-grandparents and great-great-great-grandparents, but he never knew where they were buried until he got a letter a couple of months ago from the City of Monroe.

“We were very surprised,” said Small.

He found out his great-grandparents’ graves were in what’s known as the Billy Woods Cemetery, which dates all the way back to 1842.

“We didn’t even know about it until recently that that even existed,” said Small of the Billy Woods Cemetery.

But he couldn’t get there to visit.

“It was too wooded, and we didn’t want to take a chance going back in there; we didn’t know what we would find,” said Small.

Turns out the City of Monroe was trying to find Small and about 170 descendants to let them know they were moving their ancestors’ graves.

“They’ll be in a much better place,” said Small.

The city is spending $68,000 to relocate around 50 graves to the Suncrest Cemetery.

They say the relocation will help better protect the remains and make way for future development at what will be the former Billy Woods Cemetery site.

“We just think it’s just a wonderful thing that we now found that out,” said Small.

He plans to visit often, now that he knows the final resting place for his ancestors.

The work to relocate the graves began Tuesday morning and is expected to take multiple days to finish.

Before the relocation vote by the Monroe City Council, a city spokesperson says the Billy Woods Cemetery site was assessed for a Local Historic Landmark Evaluation and was found not to meet any requirements.