More than 100 long-forgotten graves are expected to be found lying beneath the Union Church yard. It’s a discovery now unfolding in real time as Mount Jackson continues to reclaim its buried past.

Archaeologists surveying the 1825 church say ground-penetrating radar is already revealing widespread unmarked burials, and they expect the final count to climb much higher. The findings add Union Church to a growing list of historic burial grounds the town is bringing back into view, following the dramatic rediscovery at the Mount Jackson Colored Cemetery last year.

Archaeologist Mark Michael Ludlow and his team have been on-site nearly every day this past week, marking newly identified burials with bright orange stakes as radar passes over the churchyard. The survey, expected to finish before

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