This Cemetery is located behind the Sandy
Hook Elementary School, on Sandy Hook which is immediately South of the
Strasburg Town corporation limit.
A number of researcher and authors have made the follow
statements regarding the cemetery.
Location: On the Boyd Stickley property there is a cemetery
commonly called the Indian Graveyard. No Indians are buried there. The
graves are probably those of Sonner and Robinsons. This information was
documented by the cemetery researcher about 1965.
Daniel Bly's book published 1996 states that, "While
John(Sonner) purchased a number of other properties including several farms
and lots in the town of Strasburg, he and his family lived on Sandy Hook
farm and his is probably buried in the old Christian Bowman graveyard on
the hill overlooking the river.".
This cemetery was documented to be a Sonner Graveyard
in "Tombstone Inscriptions: Shenandoah and Page Counties, Virginia" published
about 1982 by Duane Borden. This same source documents that a black walnut
casket of heavy construction was struck when workmen were installing water
mains into the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
This cemetery is documented in the book published by
E. E. Keister. This book was published 1972. Mr. Keister documented the
following, ".....Ezra Stickley, who was born on and lived most of his life
on that farm and who recently died at the age of about 89 years old, told
me that his plot was know as the Sonner graveyard and that members of the
Sonner family and their slaves were buried there.".
A Strasburg resident recalls seeing about fifteen headstone
on the cemetery during the early 1940s.
Another local resident recalls walking from Strasburg
to the cemetery with his father and sitting there on many occasions during
the 1930s. A map draw about 1865 indicates a family living on Sandy Hook
with the same name as this person.
Many older Strasburg residents recall the cemetery but
no particular information related to the number of stone and etc.
More to follow:
