by The 200-year-old cemetery’s future is being discussed by the Commerce City Council. In order to construct a 600-acre business park, a local developer is requesting authorization to move the deceased.
The formerly overgrown Wilson-Wheeler-King Cemetery, located about a quarter of a mile into thick woods, is now covered in survey flags, with yellow flags at the feet and red flags where the heads of the buried individuals are. Married couples are buried together, and some sit next to one other. A few flags, which appear to be those of young people who passed away, are positioned inches apart.
Documents from the archeological firm R.S. Webb and Associates suggest that up to 200 bodies may be interred there.
The VIEWLand surveyThe Commerce City Council is addressed by Rebecca Wheeler-Bunce. She searched for her ancestor James Wheeler’s grave for years.(GPB News/Chase McGee)
James Wheeler, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, is one of them. According to some Wilson family ancestors, William Wilson, a fellow veteran and close family friend, is also interred in the cemetery.
Along with about fifty other descendants and supporters, Wheeler’s great-great-great-granddaughter, Rebecca Wheeler-Bunce, petitioned the city council last month to preserve the cemetery.
According to her, it was abandoned, but not in the sense that no one gave a damn. No one could reach it, therefore it was abandoned.
Better access to the distant location is what advocates seek, or at the absolute least, they want builders to refrain from touching the cemetery.
The proposition is put to a vote by the municipal council on August 18.
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