LEXINGTON, S.C., Nov. 23 (UPI) -- A Lexington County, S.C., family that lost ownership of a cemetery in the early 1900s has reached a deal to regain the property.
NBT of Columbia, which is building 90 homes in a new neighborhood west of Lexington, S.C., has agreed to give the one-quarter-acre graveyard to the Drafts family and provide $3,300 to help build a fence around the cemetery, The State (Columbia, S.C.) reported Friday.
"This means a lot to me ... more than words can express," Drafts family spokeswoman Freda Bonner said.
"Now I know my ancestors will rest in peace," Revious Amaker, a family leader who helped lead the effort to save the cemetery, told the newspaper.
The struggle for the property began five months ago when construction workers discovered unmarked graves on the property. Drafts family history suggests as many as 100 people may have been buried in the cemetery starting in the late 1800s. The family was denied access to the site when they lost ownership of it in the early 1900s.
