Paintsville Lake Project...
Cemetery Relocation

Paintsville Lake, located in Staffordsville, Johnson County, Kentucky, is a source of recreation, sport and enjoyment to thousands of area residents and visitors each summer. But I have to wonder if anyone ever takes time to think about the devastation and destruction that took place in the construction phase of the Paintsville Lake Project.

Homes and acre upon acre of land was purchased in order to create the Paintsville Lake. After living most of their life in a particular area, residents had to relocate away from the only home ever known to them, selling their houses and land which in many instances, had been in the family for several generations.

Cemeteries were also affected by the construction of the Paintsville Lake. Nearly 100, give or take a few, cemeteries were relocated by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers from Huntington West Virginia. The Johnson County Memorial Cemetery was created for the purpose of placing the relocated cemeteries, making the reinterment sites more accessible than the original sites, however, I feel very cheated by not being able to visit the exact burial location of my ancestors because the land is now underwater. I can only hope that no graves went unnoticed and are now lost to us forever.