Cemetery for pets renovated

By Scott Marshall

Published: November 5, 2008

For more information about the cemetery, call (434) 946-4310 or e-mail .

In an otherwise non-descript field near the new Amherst County animal facility lies a pet cemetery, which has just been renovated by a Boy Scout working on his Eagle award project.

Perhaps unbeknownst to many is that the cemetery was created 25 years ago and 540 animals have been buried there, including a horse, according to the Humane Society of Amherst County.

“There are people who come back year after year to put flowers out for their animals,” said Popie Martin, the society’s treasurer. “It means a lot to people.”

The aspiring Eagle Scout, Jacob Dobyns, an 18-year-old Amherst County High School senior, organized an entire team to renovate the grounds and spent a month on it, personally amassing 54 hours on the project.

“Because I like animals and because no one knows they’re out here, I thought I would do something for them,” said Dobyns, a member of Lynchburg Troop 128 based at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “I saw this and figured I could expand it.”

Besides Dobyns, eight other Scouts worked for 113 hours on the project, including his brother, Josh, 15, an Amherst High sophomore, and 21 non-Scouts including his parents Tom and Denise Dobyns, spent 181 hours on it, for a total of 348 hours.

The cemetery is surrounded by 720 feet of fence, of which hundreds of feet were replaced. Seven businesses donated materials such as cement, paint, bolts, food, fencing and treated lumber.

Adults brought in a tractor with a front-end loader, a brush cutter and chain saws. Hundreds of feet of brush were cleared.

Dobyns built benches and created a landscaped area for visitors, including moving a 300-pound stone to the area and finding and restoring a small Virgin Mary statue.

The cemetery is on Shelter Lane, off North Coolwell Road near Faulconerville.