The shoreline changed burial places, too
The creation of Grand Lake required relocation of cemeteries as well as homes, roads and railway lines. GRDA’s construction chronology places a grave-removal work item in 1939. This establishes that burial relocation was part of the project; it does not identify every person moved, every original cemetery or the final resting place of each burial. [1][2]
1939–1940: the documented Buzzard Cemetery story
The City of Grove identifies Buzzard Cemetery as one of six cemeteries GRDA established for graves affected by the coming lake. It was planned to receive removals from Buzzard Springs and Carey cemeteries. [3]
The city’s history supplies unusually specific documentary milestones: GRDA bought four acres from William P. Mayes for $400 by deed dated November 6, 1939. In February 1940, it transferred the property to the Buzzard Cemetery Corporation. Grove took responsibility for care and maintenance in 1968, following annexation of the area in 1967. [3]
Those dates describe the land and stewardship record. They are not a complete exhumation register or proof that every grave from each source cemetery was successfully identified.
Do not combine the Grand Lake and Eucha relocations
Nearby Lake Eucha has its own history. Tulsa’s upstream dam was completed in 1952, and the Cherokee town of Eucha and its cemetery were relocated. That was a different reservoir and a later project—not the 1939–1940 creation of Grand Lake. [1]
Respect before curiosity
These are family and community places, not hidden attractions. This guide intentionally omits coordinates, remote access directions and locations of unmarked graves. It does not reproduce Grove’s burial transcription, which carries a permission notice. Follow cemetery rules, respect private property and leave markers and objects undisturbed.
What remains to be checked
We have not inspected a complete GRDA reinterment ledger, verified a WPA crew attribution, or confirmed a defensible list of shoreline/island burial grounds. Family-level research should distinguish original burial, reinterment and present marker records. The linked municipal history and GRDA chronology are starting points—not a claim that the full archival work is finished. [3][2]