The Dotson Runway Graves are a unique part of the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia. These graves are the final resting places of Richard and Catherine Dotson, 19th-century farmers who originally owned the land now occupied by the airport. Their graves are embedded in Runway 10, making them the only known graves situated on an active runway in the United States.
The families wished for the graves to remain in place when westward extension of this East to West runway was required during World War II. The graves of Richard and Catherine Dotson along with two beloved relatives, Daniel Hueston and John Dotson, remain undisturbed in and next to the airport's most active runway.
These grave sites are the only ones in the world embedded in an active 9,350 foot runway serving thousands of general and commercial aviation operations yearly.
In 1942, during World War II, the U.S. government expanded the airport into a military base. This expansion included the construction of Runway 10, which crossed over into the Dotson family cemetery. While most of the approximately 100 graves were relocated to Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, the Dotson family descendants insisted that the graves of Richard and Catherine remain undisturbed. At first, I thought these graves were for people who had passed away in a plane accident, which would be scary to see while taking off for a flight. Knowing the real story behind them makes them much less intimidating.
