Henderson-McFadden Cemetery

BEFORE RESTORATION


   

   



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PROGRESS!!!!!!!

SEPTEMBER 2004

This tiny cemetery is located about a mile northeast of Arcadia. You can see Arcadia Cemetery, across the fields when the crops aren't tall, while standing in the cemetery. It is situated in what was a grove of trees (only 1 is still standing) to the east of the road. My father discovered this forgotten cemetery during the late 1960s or very early 1970s. At the time, it was so thick with briars, brush and trees you couldn't get into the cemetery. My parents and his younger brother, Darrell E. Stewart, cut the brush, cut many of the small and/or dead trees, and then cut and burned the brush. Dad then sowed grass and kept the cemetery mowed until he became ill and passed away in 1984. Since that time my mother and I have paid to have the cemetery mowed every two weeks during the summer growing season. A new flag pole has been installed, and I expect to complete all of the restoration work on the cemetery before the end of September 2004. So far all of the stones which were unbroken have been professionally reset and all but two of the broken and illegible stones have been replaced. The last two replacement stones and one new one for an infant who died in 1908 should be set before the end of the month. As soon as the crops are out of the field beside the cemetery, a fence enclosing the open two sides will be put up and I'll begin working on the last project - a new permanent sign identifying the cemetery. Both dad and my uncle, who also passed away in 2001, would be surprised and happy to see how the cemetery looks today.

When my parents were working on the cemetery, a neighbor told him that at one time there were a good many more stones which originally stood in the cemetery, but that the farmer who owned the ground around the cemetery had moved them and then thrown them into a creek. He then proceeded to plow up some of the original cemetery ground for crops. A search of the nearest creek turned up only the tall spire for Catherine Henderson - there is no way of knowing who else might have been buried in this early family cemetery.

If a name appears in red, click on the name to bring up a photo of that individual's cemetery marker.