“You don’t see a lot of headstones that have something that specific, calling out someone by name.”ADWho was Smoot, Lefkowitz wondered. Smoot Sand & Gravel was founded in 1900 by Lewis E. Smoot, son of an Alexandria coal and lumber merchant. His firm was paid to dredge sand and dirt from the river bottom to accommodate shipping traffic. In 1914, James Dent fell from a Smoot dredge and drowned. In 1942, 18-year-old Garland Leo Lail fell off a Smoot dredge and drowned.

Source: Washington Post June 08, 2020 21:11 UTC