Photo 102-MRO-18

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The Roane County Board of Education, Roane Co., WV bought 17.05 acres of land from the Farm Management Commission of WV in 1981 for the purpose of building a school. (Have deed copy). The open area beside the first part of school was the cemetery area of the former Spencer State Hospital which closed in 1989. The cemetery was supposed to be fenced before the school was built but was not until 2017 after much letter-writing, and newspaper articles. The cemeteries were further desecrated with each addition to the school, run over, dug up, obliterated beyond recognition. Nearly one-thousand patients buried there. No markers except a roadside type sign placed there in 1997 by the Roane County Historical Society to identify the existence of the cemeteries. The large tree in cemetery area is still standing in 2019.

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Do you have a connection to this photograph? Maybe you grew up here or know someone who did? What has changed in the 39 years since this photo was taken? Tell us!