Unmarked burial found at Long Neck Community Bank construction site, state confirms
This story has been updated to reflect that the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission, not the county council, reviewed plans to move the graveyard, according to county spokesman Chip Guy.An unmarked grave has been found at an active construction site in the Long Neck area of Millsboro.
Delaware Historical and Cultural Affairs spokesperson Dana Behling confirmed her agency received a report of an "unmarked burial" at the site, on the southwest corner of Route 24 and Indian Mission Road, on Friday.
"In consultation with the Delaware Department of Justice, an investigation by the division is ongoing," Behling said.
The Lewes-based Community Bank owns the 3-acre property and under construction on the site is a third bank branch. The company made news a few months ago when plans to move a historic graveyard on the site, officially known as "Lingo Cemetery #2," were presented to Sussex County.
Later, Community Bank President Jack Riddle said in a video the plan was merely "a possible solution" and that the graves would be left undisturbed, as per the wishes of Lingo descendants. He did not return phone calls and emails Monday.
Riddle also said in the video that his company was only aware of one headstone on the 3-acre property when they purchased it, and 10 more headstones were uncovered only when the property was cleared. However, Community Bank bought the property in 2022, according to the deed, and a publicly available state Preliminary Land Use Service survey indicated nine graves at the site in 2007.
Behling provided no other details about what was found Friday other than to point to the Delaware Code's definition of an "unmarked human burial," which is "any interment of human skeletal remains for which there exists no grave marker or any other historical documentation providing information as to the identity of the deceased."
According to Title 7, Chapter 54 of the Delaware Code, upon the discovery of a previously unknown burial, ground-disturbing activity should cease immediately and the state should be contacted. Construction continued at the site on Monday, but only on the eastern side of the property, not in the area of the graveyard.
The Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs website says a division archaeologist will visit any discovery site within 24 hours of notification to determine if the remains are human and when the remains were interred.
"The preferred approach for managing historical human remains that have been discovered is to leave them in situ—that is, to keep them where they have been found — until a treatment and disposition plan can be developed," the website says.
If the remains must be removed for safekeeping, they will be held in a division facility until plans can be made with any potential next of kin.
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Unmarked burial found at Long Neck Community Bank construction site
