Community members braved spotted showers as they ventured through Fort Stewart’s costal Georgia Nov. 14 for the latest Fall Cemetery Tour that featured four cemeteries, each belonging to communities that once resided on the 288,000 acres of land that encompass Fort Stewart today.
Settled in the late 1700s, more than 300 families thrived within the bustling coastal Georgia communities on the land; most of which included homes, schools, general stores, churches, and of course, cemeteries. When the Army acquired the land in 1940, the families relocated their communities— inevitably leaving their cemeteries behind. Today, the 60 cemeteries across the installation are the only remaining visual proof that the communities ever existed.
Donald Lovette, a local historian, Fort Stewart Cemetery and Historic Communities Council co-chair, and Chairman of the Liberty County Board of Commissioners, has been visiting the area and its cemeteries since the 1980s.
“When the Army purchased the land, the agreement was made that the Army would maintain the cemeteries, and for some people it has been years since they have had the opportunity to come back to visit what was called home,” he said. “I don’t care how many years or how far away they’ve moved, this is still home. So, it is important to preserve that memory, preserve that opportunity, and twice a year allow those folk to come back and walk the grounds that their forefathers walked.”
In an effort to preserve the rich history of the communities, and to share the past with the present, the Fort Stewart Cemetery and Historic Communities Council hosts Fall and Spring cemetery tours each year.
“We help to arrange the tours, promote the tours, and provide for families the opportunity to come visit their roots, their heritage and to reconnect,” he said. “Even sometimes for those people to come home again, to help facilitate that is a great honor.”
During the tour, participants had the opportunity to visit Trinity, Cypress Slash, Fleming, and Zoucks Cemeteries.
“I have relatives out here, ancestors,” said Lynn Pritchett of Hinesville, Georgia, the great-great-granddaughter of James Washington Stafford who is buried in Zoucks Cemetery. “I feel, I guess because I am kin to everybody, I feel ownership. You can’t go anywhere in Liberty County where I can’t tell you a story or who lived there.”
Pritchett was accompanied by her sister and brother-in-law. They brought with them many memories and stories about the area, helping to educate other tour members.
“I was a history teacher, those who don’t know history are bound to repeat it,” Pritchett said. “Plus, you need to know where you came from to see where you’re going.”
The cemeteries are preserved by the Fort Stewart Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division’s Cultural Resources Branch, in partnership with the Fort Stewart Cemetery and Historic Communities Council.
Lovett applauded Fort Stewart’s efforts to host the tours and for the dedication to the preservation and upkeep of the cemetery grounds. To him seeing the visitors faces light up when they visit their family’s respective cemetery makes it worth it.
The tour ended at with a picnic lunch at Holbrook Pond where a member of the Department of Public Works Environmental team educated guests on the wildlife found on Fort Stewart. Their conservation efforts include monitoring the red-cockaded woodpecker, frosted flatwoods salamander and eastern indigo snake.
To learn more about the cemeteries on Fort Stewart, visit home.army.mil/stewart/index.php/about/Garrison/DPW/environmental/prevention-and-compliance/crm. Those who are interested in participating in future tours can receive more information by emailing molly.a.cooke.civ@army.mil.
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