August 2, 2022 A Runway Engraved

The Liberty Gazette

August 2, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: We were on approach to the Savanah/Hilton Head International Airport when my co-pilot commented that we might see a ghost. When I asked why, he replied that people were buried in the runway. What? After touchdown, we slowed to a crawl and two headstones on the north side of the runway came into view. I thought it was a joke, but the embedded graves are real. In fact, they are even included in professional aircraft simulator graphics.

Richard Dotson was born March of 1797. Catherine Smith was exactly five weeks older. The couple met, courted, and married in 1820. They bought farmland in what was then known as Cherokee Hills, in Chatham County, Georgia, and in 1833, their son Sampson was born. He blessed his parents with four grandchildren, who begat many more generations. It seems that sense of honor and respect for their ancestors was instilled throughout the family tree. Catherine passed away in 1877, and Richard joined her seven years later. They were buried side-by-side in the family cemetery on their farm they toiled over and loved.

In the Golden Age of Aviation, Chatham Field airport was built on the neighboring land. And 58 years after Richard had passed, when our country was steeped in World War II, the federal government included Chatham Field in their expansion plans. By this time, the city of Savannah owned the property 

and leased 1,100 acres to the Army for a command base for training the heavy bombardment combat crew of the Army Air Corp’s second bomb wing. The land lease included the Dotson family cemetery. 

Now this kind of development is not unusual, and in most cases, the party doing the building pays to have remains moved to another cemetery. The only requirement is the approval of the next of kin. That’s what stopped the feds right in their tracks. The descendants agreed to moving the bodies of family, enslaved people, and employees from approximately 100 graves to the Bonaventure cemetery in Savannah. But there were four family members whose relocation they denied: Richard and Catherine, and two others, John Dotson and Daniel Hueston, who they knew would wish to rest forever on the land they worked. But we have to wonder just how restful a place it is these days.

When the Army Air Corps was ready to pour the concrete for the 9,351-foot runway, they had no choice but to place it over the Dotsons. B-24 “Liberators” and B-17 “Flying Fortresses” would be landing and taking off here in defense of freedom. 

Today, at the approach end of runway 10 at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, formerly Chatham Field, are two grave markers: “Catherine Smith Dotson, born February 14, 1797, died November 23, 1877, age 80. Gone home to rest.” And “Richard Dotson, born March 21, 1797, died March 29, 1884, age 87. At rest.” John and Daniel are buried just off the runway. Family members can visit the graves but can’t leave any flowers.

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