Fort Ward's Lost Graves: Who speaks for the dead? Lance Mallamo

Fort Ward's Lost Graves:  Who speaks for the dead?
Lance Mallamo

Despite the possibility of more missing graves, Lance Mallamo, Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria, said the city, which has spent more than $1 million on Fort Ward Park since 2009, had no immediate plans to continue digging in the park.

"We just don't have the funding to remove every blade of grass and every tree to see if there's a burial out there," Mallamo said. "We focused on areas with documented evidence that showed there were graves."

Mallamo said new technology somewhere down the road will likely allow the city to uncover more graves in an "environmentally responsible way." The ground-penetrating radar used by archeologists in recent searches produced mixed results. And, he said, the lost graves remaining in the park are not immediately threatened.

News article by Taylor Holland. Washington Examiner. September 9, 2012