Woman Devotes 7 Years to Documenting Burials in Forgotten Cemetery

Charlotte Thompson has spent the last seven years identifying the inhabitants of 112 unmarked graves in Whitewood Cemetery, Meade County South Dakota. When Charlotte first became interested in the cemetery, she was told there were 400 graves but so far she has found over 1,100. That number does not include the unidentified graves.

To date Mrs. Thompson has identified 92 of the unmarked graves and there are more to be researched. Her love of history has helped her and she learned the origins of the cemetery

“The original story was a woman and her grandson died on their way through the Black Hills in a covered wagon, so they buried them on the hill east of Whitewood. Then people started having other burials there. The city ended up opening the cemetery on 10 acres there in 1897.”

Now Mrs. Thompson is asking for help. She needs volunteers to transcribe the file drawer full of the records she has compiled.

Continue reading Whitewood woman uncovers a cemetery's secrets