Did you know that there’s an airport with graves on its runway? Yes, actual graves that contain human remains and this airport is still active with the runway being used by thousands of travelers regularly.
This might sound weird or even diabolical to some, but this is the situation at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia, USA which has two graves embedded directly into the runway.
The story behind the graves at the airport runway is quite interesting. This airport currently sits on what was once the Dotson family farm.
In the 1940s, during World War II, the U.S. government began expanding the airfield, and that meant taking over nearby land including a small private cemetery that belonged to the Dotson family.
Most of the graves in the family plot were moved to make way for the new runway. But when it came to the final resting places of Richard and Catherine Dotson who were the original owners of the land, their descendants made a heartfelt request.
They wanted their remains left where they were. They believed the couple should remain on the land they had owned and worked, even if that land was about to become part of a military airstrip.
Fortunately for the Dotson descendants, their request was granted and the graves weren’t moved. Instead, they were carefully paved into the edge of what would become Runway 10.
Today, pilots and airport staff can still spot the headstones, two granite slabs lying flush with the tarmac, inscribed with the names and dates of the people buried beneath.
They don’t interfere with operations, but they are unmistakably present, a quiet reminder of the land’s history before jets and terminals took over.
For many, it’s an eerie yet beautiful symbol of respect for the dead amid the unstoppable push of progress.
Travelers landing at or taking off from Savannah might have no idea that just beneath the tires of their plane lie the resting places of a husband and wife who never left their land in death, even though it’s now an airport.
One thing is certain though, a part of them still remains on the land and it is one way they would be remembered for a very long time.
