Project
Description
St. Nicholas Church was established in 1795 by Nicholas
Sewall, owner of the Mattapany/Sewall plantation at Cedar
Point Maryland, now a part of NAS Patuxent River.
When the Navy took over the land in 1942, one of the acts
of building the base was the demolition of the old 1795
church and the incorporation of the later built 1915 church
constructed to replace the older, dilapidated church. This
church would become the non-denominational Base Chapel. For
numerous reasons, some unknown today, the cemetery
associated with St. Nicholas was buried. The stones were
documented and buried atop their graves. Three hundred
twenty known burials were mapped.
In 2001, I found out from my grandfather that I had many
direct ancestors buried at St. Nicholas. Concerned about
the circumstances of the cemetery's disappearance, I
contacted the Command at PAX and requested permission to
restore, at no cost to the Navy, the entire cemetery. First
met with reluctance, I partnered with the St. Mary's County
Genealogical Society and was granted permission to recover
and repair the burial markers of 13 veterans. These
veterans ranged from the Revolutionary War through WWI.
The stones were in remarkably good condition, despite the
marble ones being broken from pressure cracks from heavy
mowers. All were repaired and are now standing erect as
they were intended to. To date, 70 headstones now grace the
lawn of St. Nicholas again after more than 60 years of
burial.
Grave Concerns is now applying for a final Archaeological
Protection Act (ARPA) permit to recover and repair the
remaining markers at St. Nicholas. Another 150 +/- markers
remain to be excavated. Along with Dr. James Gibb of Gibb
Archaeological Consultants, we hope to complete the project
in the next 2-3 years.
UPDATE: Scott and Jim were at St. Nicholas today (November
9, 2008) having received final approval to finish the
project. As a result we now have 83 stones recovered.
Donations to this worthwhile cause are needed. Please
consider your tax deductable contribution and send it
to:
St. Mary's County Genealogical Society PO Box 1109
Leonardtown, MD 20650