Chasing a Family Cemetery

I'm working on finding the James Miller Family Cemetery in Frankford Delaware. This cemetery is mentioned in several deeds, including a 1937 deed transferring ownership of land to the US government. This land became part of the Assawoman Wildlife Area. I have scheduled a visit to the National Archives site in College Park Maryland. There I will research the Federal records regarding the acquisition of this land to see if there are any references to the cemetery. Delaware state law requires protection of all cemetery sites.

I am reviewing the available aerial images of the site of the wildlife refuge and I am finding an interesting pattern. In the earliest images from 1926, there were many open farm fields in what would become the wildlife refuge. By 1954, the land was almost completely forested. This suggests that the land was planted with trees some time during that period. The question is who did this? Records from that period may indicate that the cemetery was there and a more precise location for it in the refuge. We shall see - stay tuned.