What started as a routine survey at Vale Cemetery turned into an unexpected piece of local history.
While using ground-penetrating radar to search for unmarked graves in the cemetery’s historic African American Ancestral Burial Ground, researchers uncovered a marble headstone that had been buried just beneath the surface for decades.
The discovery happened almost by accident. During a probe of an area that hadn’t yet been scanned, workers heard the distinct sound of metal striking marble. After digging down just a few inches, they uncovered the headstone of Henry P. Rosa…