I turned left off of 183 onto CR 192 in Stephens CO. into a community that is but a distant memory. A gravel road lined with trees and a few scattered houses. Cows graze lazily in the pastures. Most days I would fly down the road, but not today. I am taking my time to look at the beauty around me. The scenery reminds me of my childhood. The grass still has some green to it as the summer sun has not yet turned it brown. I am on my way to Harpersville Cemetery. The land for this cemetery was was deeded to Stephens Co. by my great grand father John H. Harper in 1909. My grand parents are buried here as is mothers only sibling, a sister who died some 19 years before I was born. She was just shy of her 22nd birthday. Mother is also buried here. It has been almost 3 years and yet it seems like yesterday that we were watching Criminal Minds or CSI.
I’ve brought my lunch today and I have spread a quilt so that I can have lunch with mother. It is rare that I go anywhere by myself. Usually my sister Kim is with me or both sisters. Today, I am by myself.
My goal this week is to take a picture of each grave marker to be used on a website for this cemetery. With much help from my sisters we will build this site so that those that are researching ancestry have a place to browse. Some of the markers are just moss covered rock placed hastily as no money was available or time afforded for a proper marker. Many of the engravings have vanished with time and the lack of attention by a man shredding with a tractor. Before the land was deeded, people were buried here from wagons coming through in search of a better life.
I was able to get a picture of each marker. I will have to go back with some tools to cut back a tree and briers that have taken over one and to scrape dirt and weeds off of others. I wonder what dreams some of them had. Many children are buried here. Was it an epidemic that swept through stealing their lives or was a snake bite the underlying cause? I will never know. I just know that they should not be forgotten or misplaced. If you have a good imagination like me then you can sit and listen as the birds sing and imagine those children playing, and the moms and dads going about their daily chores.
I only had a couple of incidents, a spider ran under my hand as I was attempting to brush a way dirt and grass. It’s body was surely as big as my big toe. I absolutely detest spiders. I was only stung by 3 fire ants after I riled up their mound. Did you know sunscreen will kill fire ants? And even though I had been watching very carefully for snakes since rattlers and copperheads tend to frequent the area, I did not notice until I was within 3 feet or less of not one but two snakes. Non poisonous variety, maybe prairie racers or coach whips. I am not sure as I did not ask for their identities. They were a minimum of 5 ft long each and were doing what I can only assume should have been done in the privacy of their home and not in the cemetery in broad day light. They scared the bejeezus right out of me. Luckily I was close to being done. I had spent 4 1/2 hours walking rows taking pictures, writing names, getting sun burned and visiting with mother.