It's been there for about a decade, give or take — the "FOR SALE" banner planted next to the sign that says "Historical Marker" along West Northwest Highway between Lemmon Avenue and Midway Road. And for a decade, give or take, I'd think about calling the number on the banner but never would, because something would come up, I'd just forget or, look, it's been there for a decade so what's another year?

Besides, I just figured it would never sell. Because what lies behind those signs along the busy thoroughfare is a burial ground — the difficult-to-access Garvin Memorial Cemetery, to be specific, a state and local landmark considered one of the city's oldest pioneer burial grounds and a place where several Confederate States Army veterans are interred. I've visited it a few times and always wondered: Who would buy a cemetery? And: Who would want to build on a cemetery? And: Has no one seen Poltergeist?

On Monday, for no reason other than I had a few minutes to kill and his number was sitting on my desk and I've spent way too much time of late thinking about dead Confederate soldiers, I called Realtor Randall Turner to ask about the acre-sized strip, which the Dallas Central Appraisal District says is owned by a group out of Houston. And to my great surprise, he said it had recently gone under contract. Nothing might come of it, he said; Turner thought he had it sold once, not long ago, and that fell through. This time, hard to say just yet.

Turner, who's been marketing the lot for $1.2 million, said the acre will become townhomes if Dallas City Hall eventually approves rezoning the land from single-family to multifamily. A city official told me that process usually takes about five months. Turner didn't say how many townhomes they're aiming for, but the marketing materials say the land could fit nine along with a pathway to the cemetery.

1 / 6James Garvin, a Dallas grocer, deeded the land for his namesake cemetery off West Northwest Highway months before his death in 1897.(David Woo / Staff Photographer) 2 / 6Garvin Memorial Cemetery became a state landmark in 1980, and an official city of Dallas historic landmark more than two decades later.(David Woo / Staff Photographer) 3 / 6Garvin Memorial Cemetery located at 4000 W. Northwest Highway in Dallas, Texas is for sell. Itâs an official-city-landmark cemetery where many Confederate vets are buried. Photo taken on Tuesday, September 10, 2017. (David Woo/The Dallas Morning News) (David Woo / Staff Photographer) 4 / 6A walkway from W. Northwest Highway to the cemetery. It's possible town homes could be build aroud the cemetery, should the city approve rezoning and the pending sale close.(David Woo / Staff Photographer) 5 / 6Several Swors, who fought for the Confederacy, are buried in Garvin Memorial Cemetery in Northwest Dallas.(David Woo / Staff Photographer) 6 / 6A sign outside the cemetery tells passers-by what's hidden of W. Northwest Highway(David Woo / Staff Photographer)

It just sounds like a bad idea, turning a historic site into a construction zone. Shortly before his death in 1897, James Garvin, a grocer and Confederate States Army vet, said in court documents that he wanted the land to serve as "a place of sepulture for the people ... forever." But back then, this was country. Now it sits between the zero-lot-line townhomes and the old Sherwood Forest apartments, which are in the process of being demolished to make way for a new complex. Business is booming in Bluffview, thanks in part to a resurgent Dallas Love Field.

I didn't even know until Tuesday it was even possible to build here. Neither did cemetery historian and preservationist Frances James, who, at 94, has stood watch over Dallas' dead for decades and who's been the Garvin cemetery's unofficial caretaker for four decades. It was James, in fact, who helped persuade the city to designate the land as an official Dallas landmark in 2007. She told me Tuesday she didn't even think anyone should be able to sell the land.

But the historic overlay includes three tracts, including the acre-sized sliver off Northwest Highway and a parcel behind it that includes a freedman's cemetery — donated by a Confederate States Army veteran, John Cochran — where former slaves were buried. Then there is the small Garvin Memorial Cemetery itself, where Catharine Garvin, first wife of James Garvin, was the first person buried in October 1875. She would be joined over the years by dozens more early Dallas settlers, including Captain Pleasant Swor of the Confederate States Army's 5th Tennessee Infantry Regiment.

Which means, yes, this might be the only place in Dallas where Confederate soldiers and ex-slaves share a burial ground.

Turns out, according to the 2007 historic overlay ordinance, you can build on that acre, so long as you leave at least 12 feet between construction and the cemetery. The builder also would have to provide public access to the grave site.

Capt. Pleasant G. Swor is among the Confederate States Army veterans buried in the Garvin Memorial Cemetery. (File photo)

Problem is, there are likely bodies buried outside the official confines of the cemetery — a boundary, by the way, that was set by a judge in 1990 during a legal tussle over the land. Though some tombstones remain, a few little more than rubble, dozens of grave markers are believed to have been destroyed over the years by time and vandals. And an archaeological dig in 2007 meant to find all the bodies located only a dozen previously unidentified corpses — though, as we reported at the time, city restrictions hampered a full-blown search.

"But they will find bodies," said Karen Stephenson, who, at Frances James' urging, has been part of a small group of caretakers, including Boy Scout troops, that has kept the graves clean. "You can tell there are graves back in all directions, not just in the cemetery itself. You can see the stones. Some have been broken, others moved. But they will find bodies."

And if they do, says the city's historic preservation officer, Mark Doty, they will have to be moved. Which is expensive and grim work and requires the state's approval. And the very reason the land's been on the market for a decade.

Then again, Turner said, maybe someone wants to "live next to someone with no problems," like, you know, the dead. "They are very quiet neighbors."