WOODWAY – More than 150 documented burials are lost in the overgrown lot off Bryce Drive in Woodway. Independent history researchers say the cemetery has sat untouched for years.
Trees and bushes hide remnants of the old cemetery, but KCEN trekked through what’s left of it on Thursday. The earliest documented burial dates back to 1910, and people were laid to rest there through 1959.
Death certificate research found Liberty Hill Baptist churchgoers, immigrant workers and their families, and three WWI veterans were buried at the cemetery.
Rita Hogan is a history hunter with FindAGrave.com. She mentioned a few sites with homemade fences around them. She added, “You can see that somebody really cared about the grave.”
Researchers assume anyone with ties to people buried at Liberty Hill are most likely long gone, and even if family wanted to visit, it would be difficult to find grave sites with current conditions.
Poisonous plants now surround the area that Woodway resident, Dustin Ulmer once maintained. Ulmer told KCEN he and a friend would clear the cemetery of weeds and keep the lot in order when he was back in High School.
KCEN reached out to Woodway’s Community Services and Development department regarding maintenance at the cemetery. Employees there put us in touch with a woman who denies being responsible for the lot. She referred us back to city employees.