Work on veterans cemetery continues
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 30, 2015 1:46 PM
Site work, curb and gutter, a road cut and a building's metal skeleton are helping turn what a month ago was mostly a large muddy field into the $4.1 million Eastern Carolina State Veterans Cemetery.
"It has still has been wet, but the weather has been better for us the last 30 days than it was for the previous months," said Bill Royall of Daniels and Daniels Construction Co., the company doing the work. "We have made good progress. Despite the weather, we are on schedule with the completion date still being Nov. 2. We have installed curb and gutter. We have the infrastructure in place. All of the storm drainage is in place.
"We have been working on the structural steel and framing for the administration building. We have begun work on the committal shelter and we have received a great deal of materials on site for the vaults -- all of the underdrain material, and I would say 30 percent total of the vaults. We have begun installation of the crypts."
Royall said the site work is nearing completion and that the focus at present is the installation of the pre-cast concrete crypts.
"We are looking at installing the remaining curb and gutter in this area (near the back of the site)," he said. "But probably what we are concentrating most on is the installation of the crypts."
The current phase is developing only 20 acres of the about 60-acre site.
While a roadway has been cut, paving will be one of the last things to be done to prevent any damage by large trucks or heavy equipment, he said.
Royall said he continues to be impressed by community interest in the project as well as the cooperation between everyone involved. That has attributed to how smoothly the work has progressed, he said.
It will be a state cemetery because the population size of the Wayne County does not meet the threshold for it to receive national designation.
The cemetery is being built on both sides of 163 Long's Plant Farm Road just off U.S. 70 East.
Most of the work is on the east side of the road, but a large maintenance building has been completed on the west side.
The maintenance facility has some offices in it, an open bay for washing equipment and a couple of bays for working on equipment.
A row of trees will line the front of the cemetery on the east side of the road along with an ornamental wrought-iron fence with a double swinging gate.
Visible from Long's Plant Farm Road is the steel that has been erected for the administration building on the south side of the site. It will include an area for the color guards to change clothes and gather up, office space, reception area, director's office and conference room.
There will a locator kiosk as well that people can use to locate a grave without having to walk around looking for it.
A circular walkway will be located in front of the administration building. It will continue past the entrance road and toward a memorial wall on the north side of the property.
A committal shelter, which is basically an open-air shelter will be constructed at the far eastern end of the road. A columbarium niche (for urns holding the remains of people who have been cremated) will be located on either side of the shelter.
Services will be held at the shelter that will include seating, a lectrum and a place to set the casket.
Royall said 1,872 double-height crypts will be installed, each one holding two separate caskets for a total of 3,744.