Greetings!  My name is Scott Dano, and I recently joined the Melwood Parke team as a grant writer/ fund raiser.  I’ve been doing this type of work off and on for almost a decade (!), spending most of that time in the public health arena.  While this is a significant change, joining this project allows me a wonderful opportunity, and an exciting challenge, that I’m anxious to tackle.  And I look forward to meeting all of you interested in Melwood Parke and restoring it to its original majesty!

Recently, the Prince George’s County Planning Department announced county-wide plans for a cemetery survey (http://www.pgplanning.org/Projects/Ongoing_Plans_and_Projects/Historic_Preservation/Historic_Sites/Cemetery_Survey.htm) in an effort to identify the location of historic cemeteries and access their condition.  This provided a great opportunity for us at Melwood Parke to try our hand at writing our first grant application to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to identify and memorialize a potential cemetery on the Melwood Parke property.  The application was successfully submitted on June 1, 2009.

In our vast historical studies of the property, we have come to believe that the Digges family, Thomas Sim Lee (twice Governor of Maryland), as well as the carpenter, Aaron, and the plantation blacksmith (whose name is unknown) are buried due east of the main house.  We also have reason to believe that some of the slaves owned by the Digges family are buried in the large man-made ravine just east of the supposed family cemetery.  Documentation has proven that on April 17, 1888, the remains of seven individuals (including Thomas Sim Lee and one child), were allegedly moved from Melwood Parke to the Mt. Calvert Cemetery in Upper Marlboro.  However, based on typical practices of the times, the bodies were not really moved.  We continue to search for more proof in the way of headstones.



The bodies of William Digges, his wife Eleanor Digges, Ignatius Digges, his first wife Elizabeth, his second wife Mary (Carroll) Digges, his daughter Mary Digges Lee, her husband Thomas Sim Lee, twice Governor of Maryland, their son Ignatius Digges Lee, and Reverend Thomas Digges, the brother of Ignatius Digges, are all believed to be buried here, as all were either known to live at or request burial in the Melwood Parke family cemetery. 

There are a number of reasons to believe that the graves are still on the Melwood land, the most telling, is the a ground cover called Vinca which is still covering the area where we believe the cemetery is likely located.  Vinca (also known as Periwinkle) has been significant in burial rituals since the days of the Roman Empire.  For centuries, Vinca has been used in various ways synonymous with death, typically as decoration for human sacrifices, criminals, or those facing execution.  Most significantly it was a European tradition to place Vinca on the graves of children. At Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington, vinca is found throughout the areas of Washington’s first and second tomb and the slave cemetery.

To find the cemetery in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, we will utilize non-destructive ground penetrating radar technology to aid in our locating efforts.   With the use of this technology, we anticipate being able to determine the boundary of any graves underground.  Upon completion and successful discovery, we will be able to include the accurate location(s) in the list of unknown cemeteries in Prince George's County, MD.  Once the boundaries have been identified, we plan to build a small fence around the perimeter and memorialize it with interpretive signage and landscape features.

We are hopeful that our location efforts are successful, and that we can finally give proper recognition to all individuals still located there, giving them a respectful final resting place.

We would love to hear from any of anyone who has knowledge of colonial cemeteries, please comment or send me an email at scott.dano@melwoodparke.org

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