Slave Cemetery Found at Jefferson's Monticello CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Reuters) - A long-suspected slave graveyard has been discovered in a stand of trees at Monticello, the Virginia plantation of Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president and author of the Declaration of Independence, estate caretakers said. Crews in the past few months have excavated 20 of an estimated 40 to 110 graves after identifying rectangular depressions lying in distinctive rows facing toward the east -- a Christian custom of the time -- along with several headstones and footstones. For about the past 10 years, archeologists working for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns and operates the plantation, have suspected the area under examination was a slave burial ground. Excavation began in February as part of an extensive archeological survey of the entire 2,000-acre plantation. The cemetery lies on a small, wooded patch about 2,000 feet from the Monticello plantation house in what was once a secluded area of the plantation now surrounded by a paved parking lot used by the 500,000 tourists who visit the grounds every year. Crews uncovered the distinct pattern of the graves by digging down between 9 inches and 5 feet, but do not plan to disturb the graves further or recover any remains from the acidic clay soil. 'SACRED TRUST' "We didn't feel that there would be enough of the remains left to justify the invasion," said Daniel Jordan, president of the foundation. "We treat this as a sacred trust." In the excavation, archeologists identified the burial sites of 10 adults, eight children and two others that could not be determined. The foundation will hold a dedication at the site and will determine later how to incorporate it into historical tours of the plantation. During Jefferson's life, about 130 slaves worked the plantation, raising crops, tending livestock, and making nails, barrels, cloth and carriages. Slaves also built the neoclassical home overlooking the University of Virginia, which Jefferson founded in Charlottesville. Foundation historians estimate that up to 114 slaves died at Monticello during Jefferson's lifetime. But only 55 of the slaves' deaths were recorded, and maps that Jefferson drew of his plantation did not include any references to slave cemeteries on the grounds. "There are lots of things that Jefferson did not list, probably because they were not significant to him," said Dianne Swann-Wright a foundation historian. The burial ground on maps of the plantation was referred to as "The Park" and was used as a dumping ground for stones pulled from adjacent plowed fields, a place for deer to graze and at one time as part of a project to grow tobacco. It was located next to a road leading to a neighboring plantation. SLAVE DESCENDANTS PRESS CLAIM Discovery of the cemetery came as descendants of one of Jefferson's slaves, Sally Hemings, press their campaign for rights to be buried in the Jefferson family cemetery. Genetic tests in 1998 confirmed that at least one of Hemings' children was likely fathered by Jefferson. Jefferson, who died at Monticello on July 4, 1826, in his will freed two of Hemings' sons, Eston and Madison. According to an 1833 census, their mother lived with them on a 1-acre homesite they bought near what is now the University of Virginia medical school. Because freed slaves could not hold community property for building schools, churches or cemeteries, Hemings was likely buried in the backyard of that home, which now lies under a motel parking lot about 5 miles from Monticello. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which incorporates slave life into tours of the plantation, concluded last year that Jefferson was likely the father of "one, and perhaps all" of Hemings' children. But the Monticello Association, which consists of Jefferson's white descendants, has resisted granting Hemings' descendants membership rights -- which include the right to be buried in the half-acre Monticello cemetery near Jefferson. A committee set up to study the issue was expected at the annual family reunion next month to release a final report on whether to recognize the Hemings' descendants as cousins. To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html