Abandoned cemetery cleaned up, restored
Many small graveyards are scattered about, largely forgotten by descendants
Abandoned cemetery cleaned up, restored Many small graveyards are scattered about, largely forgotten by descendants Check out this story on courier-journal.com: http://cjky.it/1lDixhG
Special to The Courier-Journal Published 10:29 p.m. ET June 28, 2014
The composite shows two sides of the stone wall in the upper-left photo; the Simmons' graves inside the metal fence next to the east side of the stone wall on the lower-left; and the interior of the Stallings cemetery with the metal gate in the righthand photo.
Mention cemeteries and many people think of well-manicured ones like Cave Hill Cemetery. But as any genealogist will tell you, there are a lot more small graveyards scattered about, often in remote places, and largely forgotten by descendants of those buried there.
Many Bullitt County cemeteries are single or multiple family graveyards. And while many are well-maintained, far too many are overgrown with briers and brambles.
Cemeteries don't start out to be abandoned. Even the smallest family plot begins with a reverence for the dead. And for a time it is carefully tended. But, sooner or later, the family dies out, or moves away, and nature reclaims the land or, worse, man deliberately despoils the site.
But every once in a while something good happens.
In November 1973, Harold Meredith had a crew clearing land in Shepherdsville's Lazy River subdivision in preparation for a development when work came to an abrupt halt. The crew was surprised to find a rectangular wall 4 feet high in excellent condition hidden within the thickets.
Within the wall, amid the remaining thicket, were several visible tombstones. At one end were two stone pillars about 6 feet tall to which was attached an ornamental iron gate. On the back side they found a wrought-iron fence surrounding three additional graves.
Hardin Stallings was just 10 years old in 1838 when he died. His parents, Samuel and Ann Stallings, chose a little rise not far from the family home for his gravesite. Then eight years later, Samuel died, and the family buried him near his son.
A decade later the ground was disturbed once again. Tabitha Stallings Hough had two daughters. Her youngest, Adaline Hough, died before her second birthday and was carried to the graveyard to join her grandfather. Then Mary Ann Hall, Tabitha's 12-year-old daughter by an earlier marriage, died five months later, and she was laid beside her sister.
Anna James Stallings died in 1872, shortly before her 80th birthday, and the dwindling family buried her next to her husband, Samuel.
By this time the remaining Stallings family members had scattered. My research has not determined the connection between them and the family of James and Frankie Simmons, but their daughter Dulcia Simmons died in 1892 and was buried just outside the stone wall. Then in 1899 her mother, Rebecca Ann Francis "Frankie" Simmons, died and was laid beside her daughter within the iron fence. James W. Simmons lived another 15 years before joining his family inside that fence.
That stone wall had been built to accommodate several more burials, but we find only one additional tombstone within it.
In 1915, Janus White Stallings was living in Louisville where he had been a grocer. He died in September of his 86th year and was brought back to the family graveyard and laid within that old stone wall.
It's not clear who was tending to the grounds after that. As is often the case, the land around the cemetery was tilled by succeeding farmers who were careful to plow around the cemetery, but allowed the weeds and brambles to grow. Then, as years passed, the area was left untended until that fateful day in 1973 when Harold Meredith's crew found it once again.
© Charles Hartley, Shepherdsville, Ky.
Read or Share this story: http://cjky.it/1lDixhG
Is marijuana legal in Kentucky? No, but several bills could change that
She donated a kidney. But in Kentucky, that carries financial risks
A potential 5-year term for Beshear? GOP-backed bill could do that