A new resting place for graves found beneath Rte. 37
2:54 PM Wed, Apr 15, 2009 | Permalink
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Under the watchful eyes of archaeologists, crews from the R.I. Department of Transportation worked this week at an old state cemetery on the Cranston-Warwick line, carefully placing more than 60 granite stones that will mark the graves of the forgotten souls whose remains washed out from beneath nearby Route 37 nearly two years ago. Since the first bones were discovered on the fringe of the former Davol Building parking lot on Sockanosset Cross Road after unusually heavy rains in June 2006, DOT archaeologist Michael Hebert has worked diligently with consultants to piece together the story of the forgotten graves and try to find as much information as possible about each individual. The skeletal remains, some still encased in the shredded remains of plain wooden coffins, were determined to be those of the sick, poor and often-forgotten people who lived and died at the old State Farm on Pontiac Avenue at the turn of the century. The remains were reinterred last summer at an old state cemetery where Pontiac Avenue in Cranston runs into Knight Street in Warwick. On Wednesday, Public Archaeology Laboratory archaeologist Jay Waller turned his collar up against a cold April wind and carefully eyed the engraved granite markers being placed flush to the earth. "Now there's a sense of closure," he said, noting that the state not only but the names of the deceased, but -- when it could be determined -- their spouses and parents. Their birth and death dates and were they lived at the State Farm were also marked where applicable. "This is what is right," as he pointed to the markers of infants who only lived a few months at the infirmary and young women whose names suggest they came here from other countries to find a better life. "In researching this you can't help but get attached to some of the personal stories you discover," Waller said. "Now their graves will be marked forever and they are finally getting what they deserve." Working with the Cranston City Council and state and local historic cemetery commissions, DOT researched each individual and made a commitment to make sure the remains were properly interred. For a time, the remains were stored at Public Archaeology Laboratory in Pawtucket while records were combed and advertisements were taken out in a search for descendants. Hebert and PAL archaeologists said that the meager personal possessions found -- glass buttons, a hair comb and only a couple of wedding rings -- spoke to the dismal existence of the people who found themselves remanded to the State Farm with its poor house, work house, prison and insane asylum. As DOT examined the erosion area near the base of the southern embankment of Route 37, it was determined that additional graves would have to be exhumed to protect them from being disturbed in the future. 
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Hats off to Mike Hebert and his colleagues at the DOT for doing the right thing by those they found. Now it is time remember those still buried under route 37.
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