By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The Tucker County Commission heard updates on plans for the County Farm Cemetery site at Camp Kidd. The updates were part of the Commission’s May 22nd meeting. Tucker County Commission Administrator Shelia DeVilder updated the Commission on the progress of grants and opportunities associated with the restoration of the site.
DeVilder said she had been working on two grants from the State Historic Preservation Office for the site at Camp Kidd. One grant is slated to fund a geophysical survey of the site to locate all the graves in the area. The other grant, according to DeVilder, is intended to fund the border fencing of the site.
DeVilder said her office had difficulty in finding six companies in the area to solicit quotes from. DeVilder said that most companies were not interested in the project and out of the six inquiries required by the grant, only one company responded. “I only got once response to those,” DeVilder said. “I was required to send six out, at least six and it was very difficult to find six in our area that would even consider it, but I got one response back and they are excited to get started.”
DeVilder said the second grant was a Day of Remembrance grant. The grant parameters, according to DeVilder, were intended for maintenance of cemeteries. “They had an opportunity for another grant,” DeVilder said. “Its a Day of Remembrance and it is for maintenance, cleaning, any kind of assistance whether its cleaning of headstones, whether its cleaning tree debris removal, fixing fences, whatever you can do around the cemetery.
DeVilder said that while the site is not yet an official cemetery, the County was told that they would qualify. According to DeVilder, her office had already applied for the maximum amount of the grant in the amount of $10,000. The grant is anticipated to be awarded around July 1st, according to DeVilder, with word on the County’s application to be received shortly after. “We qualified, they said, to apply that even though its not an official cemetery yet,” DeVilder said. “So I sent that in and requesting the full $10,000.”
According to DeVilder, for the grant, her office was only required to submit one quote. The quote the County was given is higher than the amount of the grant due to the desire the County has to maintain the historic appearance of the site and coordinate with existing cast iron fencing the County plans to use on the project. DeVilder said her office had submitted photographs provided by a fencing company with the quote to illustrate what the look of the site is anticipated to be. The existing fencing that the County intends to use, according to the County, is remaining fence from the Old Jail. “We wanted it to blend in with historic, the cast iron fencing that we have and so it was a little bit more expensive,” DeVilder said. “It costs more than actually the $10,000, but that is what I sent the quote in for so that it would blend in with everything else that we have.”
The Commission approved a contract with CRA for the geophysical survey of the site. The contract, according to DeVilder, outlined that payment for the services would be provided in thirds, per grant requirements. The first installment, according to DeVilder, will be paid after completion of the physical survey. The second installment, DeVilder said, would be paid after receipt of the report and documentation. The final third of the payment would be paid upon approval from the State Historic Preservation Office. “We just had to put in a timeline when we would make the first payment,” DeVilder said. “The first third would be payable, the second third and then the final they designate is not paid until (the State Historic Preservation Office) approves all of the final documentation and reporting.”
