Gordon County development may be encroaching on historic plantation cemetery

A Gordon County judge ordered more testing after accusations that a subdivision under construction is encroaching on a historic cemetery.

What they're saying:

The Gordon County Civic Club has been fighting against a planned active adult community being built off Peters Avenue in Calhoun. "This was the Peters Plantation," said Seania Stephens, Gordon County Civic Club board member. 

The civic club is made up of African American families whose loved ones are buried at Colbert Cemetery. "We want every rock unturned," said Stephens. 

However, the oldest part of the cemetery may go beyond official lines. 

The club members had their own expert test the soil along part of the excavated site with radar and found 30 "anomalies" it believes could be graves. "Every place you see a flag is an anomaly that the ground-penetrating radar found," said Stephens. "They thought we were going to let it go."

The other side:

A letter obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta indicates Brent Stepp Construction had an archaeologist survey the property last year. 

It said it's unlikely that human graves lie beyond the existing and currently delineated southeastern and eastern boundaries of the cemetery. 

It went on to say that there may be small graves that may not be detected through surface inspection, but again insisted such a discovery was unlikely. 

FOX 5 reached out to the attorney representing Brent Stepp Construction, but we did not hear back from them in time for publishing.

The Source: FOX 5's Kevyn Stewart spoke with the Gordon County Civic Club for this article. Attempts were made to obtain a statement from Brent Stepp Construction, but had not heard back at the time of this publication.

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