New Adventure Equals New Find

     Today my daughter and I went for a short walk with a destination in mind, but wasn’t really sure what I might find. The small neighborhood we live in is fairly new and the land was all owned by one family.   At some point this family decided to sell the land so homes could be built. Currently I don’t know a lot about the original land owner except that he still owns some land on the out lining area of the neighborhood.  Okay I seem to be talking in code here… let me get to the point.

     When driving into our neighborhood if you look closely you’ll notice a black metal fence wedged between two, typical wooden privacy fences. Upon a closer look, while still in the car you will notice two large trees, but they’re dead and have been, for as long as we have lived here. Not a leaf in site, those branches are necked except for the occasional bird or squirrel.  

     Today I decided to venture up there and see exactly what was there. I wasn’t really sure what we would find but deep down I was pretty sure it was some type of a cemetery. I was right; it was a cemetery of sort.  It was completely gated shut; there was no entrance into the lot.  At first glance you would think it was originally an old foundation for a house but upon closer look I didn’t believe that to be the case.  There was one large tree that looks to have been cut down, probably during the beginning stages of construction in the neighborhood. That seems to be the only tree removed, the two dead trees we saw from the road and in the gated area.  There are quite a few large rocks and even a few that look like foundation rocks for a home. We only saw one headstone in the whole fenced in area and it was leaning up against what looked to be the pedestal for it at one time. There’s no sign on the fence letting you know the name of the cemetery or even if it’s a family cemetery.  Don’t get me wrong it’s not trashed, the grass isn’t overgrowing but it just looks sad, lonely and forgotten.

     What I wasn’t really expecting was what my daughter said as we were walking back to the house; “mom you have to find out who it is and if there are more there”.  I knew I took her for a reason and now I have another mystery to solve.  All joking aside, she was right there isn’t any information and what if this was one of my ancestors or a client’s ancestor that I’m researching.   

     So this is what I’ve found out so far, and it was just thru a quick Facebook question on our neighborhood page. One story is that the cemetery belongs to the original owners of the land, but when I asked the name no one seems to know. Another story is that there are a few people buried there and some family is taking care of the plot, again name seems to escape them. The last bit of info sent to me was that the lady buried there died in you early 20’s, her husband buried her there by their home. He later remarried and is buried in some another cemetery in Clarksville.  

     I’ve learned two lessons on today’s adventure one is that you never know what you’ll come across when you venture out. Lesson number two maybe Facebook isn’t all that bad for asking some research questions.