The Texas Department of Transportation’s Southern Gateway plan, which would reconfigure interstate highways 35 and 67 to include toll lanes, could encroach on a 123-year-old cemetery in Oak Cliff, preservationists say.
The McAdams Cemetery is just off the Interstate 35 service road, south of Illinois.
In recent community meetings about the plan, the transportation department couldn’t answer definitively whether the cemetery would be spared from disruption, says Michael Amonett, a past president of the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League and Landmark Commission appointee.
The league is planning a clean-up of the cemetery from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28.
Nathaniel McAdams was the third sheriff of Dallas County, elected in 1862. He also was a Dallas County Commissioner until 1896, and his name is engraved in the Old Red Courthouse. The McAdams family farm was where Wynnewood is now. The old cemetery, which has about 10 grave markers, is a Texas designated historic cemetery.
The league needs volunteers with gas-powered weed eaters, loppers, saws and a chainsaw for the clean-up.
Here are more photos, via Michael Amonett:
