What happened when a graveyard was found on the site for a new Sussex County bank

Delaware News Journal

About a dozen gravestones have been discovered in the Long Neck area of Millsboro, at Routes 24 and 5, on a property where a Community Bank is to be built.

A forgotten family cemetery discovered while clearing land for the future site of a Sussex County bank sparked an online debate about how to handle the graves.

Community Bank, based in Lewes with a branch in Rehoboth Beach, is building a third branch on a 3-acre property at Routes 24 and 5 in Millsboro's Long Neck area.

When the property was purchased, Community Bank officials were aware of only one headstone, bank President Jack Riddle said in a video posted on the Community Bank website. But when the overgrown site was cleared a year later, 10 more headstones were uncovered, according to Riddle.

This sign had been placed along the cemetery fencing at Routes 24 and 5 in Millsboro on Jan. 4, 2024.

The graveyard is now officially known as "Lingo Cemetery #2" and is protected by a fence. Visible headstones mark graves for Capt. Walter Lingo, who died in 1925; Martha C. Lingo, who died in 1902; and Nancy A. Marvel, who died in 1887.

Bryce Lingo, a Rehoboth Beach real estate broker and descendant of some of the people buried in the graveyard, said Thursday that he and Community Bank CEO Alex Pires agreed not to move the graves.

"Relocating people in graveyards gives me the heebie-jeebies," Lingo said. "I don't need any negativity in my life."

The grave of Capt. Walter Lingo at Routes 24 and 5 in Millsboro.

While Riddle said he and Pires "haven't had any communication with Bryce concerning that," he was adamant they would honor Lingo's wishes.

Lingo said he reached out to Pires after learning of the graves through the grapevine. Social media commenters learned of the graveyard in December, when they were rankled by news reports on a letter that outlined plans to move the graves.

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In an Oct. 19, 2023, letter to the Sussex County Council, a Parsell Funeral Homes representative said his company had been "retained by Community Bank Delaware to re-locate the grave sites" to Woodlawn Cemetery in Millsboro.

Riddle said the plan to move the graves was presented to the county merely "to give (the Lingos) an option."

"We're just trying to be respectful of the folks that are buried there," he said.

Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on Sussex County and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught.