Old, abandoned black cemetery center of controversy

Old, abandoned black cemetery center of controversy


By David A. Farrell, Item Staff Writer
The Picayune Item Picayune Item Fri Apr 08, 2011, 08:37 AM CDT

CARRIERE — A controversy involving an abandoned black cemetery more than 100 years old here has wound up in Pearl River County Justice Court.

Access to the cemetery, in the center of Stone Bridge subdivision, has become the center of the controversy.

The dispute has resulted in the subdivision’s security officer, who also lives in the subdivision, filing an affidavit in Justice Court, charging another Carriere resident with trespassing and desecrating the cemetery.

The dispute revolves around who has access to the cemetery. To Read the Full article click the title link above.

Anderson Cemetery Byhalia, Ms.

Recently I was on my way to the Byhalia Cemetery to take some headstone photographs for my FindAGrave project, I just happened to look up at the right moment and noticed a headstone through the bushes, from the Hwy. Not seeing a driveway to the area, I pulled over at the neighbors house and asked the gentleman who was out in the driveway if it was a private cemetery. He didn't seem to know much about it other than that it was an African American graveyard. But he was gracious enough to allow me to park in his driveway and walk up thru the wooded trail to the cemetery, so that I could photograph the headstones.
The Anderson Cemetery is located on Old Hwy 178 about a mile east of Byhalia, Ms in Marshall County. It sits in a small clearing on top of the hill, just west of the intersection of Quinn Mills Rd and Edwards Rd which cross Hwy 178.
Approx. GPS Coordinates: Lat. 34.86829/ Lon.89.66964 .
There were 9 names memorialized in the small clearing and what looked like at least 2 unmarked graves, where the ground had started to sink. I have set up memorial pages and added the cemetery to the FindA Grave memorial website.
I have not yet had a chance to research the history of this little cemetery, but if you have any information about it that you would like to share or add to the memorials on FindAgrave, you can click on the links below each photo to view the individual memorials and send the information to me and I can either add the information for you or if you are a family member and have a FindAGrave account, I will transfer the memorial to you and you can add any information you wish to add. I had some problems with posting some of the photos, blogger is not cooperating with me today, but you can click the link and see the headstone photo as they are all posted on the FindAGrave memorials.

Rickie Recardo Anderson

Sept 20 1955- Jan 18 2001

Manervie Watson

Oct 8 1877- July 1 1946

Sim Watson

Sep 10 1870- Jan 13 1944

Robert Anderson

Mar 24 1898- May 5 1975

Ida B Anderson

Nov 1 1895- June 19 1984

Photo on Findagrave

Moses F Watson
Feb 3 1891- July 9 1967

Photo on Findagrave

Carrie Watson

Mar 24, 1893- Dec 21- 1980

Watson Anderson Sr.

Nov 9 ?- Dec 8?

Earline A Taylor

Dec 31 1933- July 31 2000

Spring Cleaning At Old Philadelphia April 2011

The Mississippi Society of Paranormal Investigators will host their annual Spring Clean-up project at the Old Philadelphia Presbyterian Cemetery in Red Banks Ms. Marshall County, on Saturday and Sunday April 16th & 17th 2011. Volunteers from the group will be raking leaves, cutting brush and clearing some fallen tree limbs . MSSPI adopted the Historic Cemetery in 2009 to assist the cemetery owner, Mr Roy Hendrix, an attorney from Memphis Tn. in an attempt to maintain the pre-civil war cemetery. Mr Hendrix is a direct decendent of the original owner of the property who donated the cemetery to the Old Brick Methodist Church which has since been moved to another location in Red Banks. He has donated over $10,000 out of his own pocket to maintain the cemetery over the years, but now in his 80's he is physically unable to maintain it himself. This cleanup project is an ongoing effort as the cemetery is located in a rural location and while rarely visited, thick growth, falling limbs and leaves occur every year and must be maintained. Last years efforts were stalled by bad weather and limited volunteers , so we are hoping that Mother Nature will work with us this year.

You can read about the history of the Old Phil Cemetery on our main website http://www.mississippi-spi.com/. or in a previous post I have done about the cemetery in this blogs archives.

If you would like to help out or contribute to the clean-up efforts at Old Philadelphia, please contact me via email at angelamsspi@gmail.com for more information.

Grave Groomers Veterans Restoration Project

Established in 1999, Grave Groomers Cemetery Restoration specializes in cemetery restoration, beautification, delivery and preservation services. Grave Groomers currently has locations in 12 states which include, California, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

All of Grave Groomer owners are trained and certified professionals by NAOGG (National Association of Grave Groomers).

Grave Groomer Cemetery Restoration services include, monument leveling, marker cleaning and restoration, stone highlighting and painting, bronze restoration, new foundations and monument repair.

Grave Groomers also offers memorial marker engraving in two different styles:

Precision Graphic Carving is a superior method for illustrating artistic detail, beauty and accuracy. All of the Grave Groomer carvings were originally hand drawn by professional artists. All of their designs are exclusive and copyrighted. Precision Graphic carving should be used on medium to dark granite colors for best results.

Double Process Design Components are used in traditional memorial granite carving. All of their designs are either flat carved or shape carved. A deep line is carved around the design, and then the design is flashed off to create a high contrast on granite. Most floral work is then shape carved to create a three-dimensional artistic carving. These designs work on all granite colors.

Grave Groomers is currently raising funds for Veteran Memorial Restorations and their goal is to clean and restore all Veteran sections that are located in privately owned cemeteries. To raise money for this project Grave Groomers is selling Giant Pizza Cutters. A percentage of the proceeds from these sales will go towards the Veterans Restoration Project.

Grave Groomers is also looking to branch out their franchise to other states and locations and they offer a starter package for anyone who might be interested in starting a Cemetery Restoration Business. They also offer a training program for new business owners, which includes cemetery restoration, stone cleaning, stone repair, bronze restoration, scratch repair, lawn maintenance, individual grave care, flower placement, planting & maintenance, monument and marker leveling, cemetery snow plowing, concrete work and foundations, tools & equipment and training certification thru the National Association of Grave Groomers (NAOGG) Their next training classes start on May 7, 2011. http://www.gravegroomers.com/JoinourTeam.html -------

To find out more about the Grave Groomers and the services they offer please visit their website at www.gravegroomers.com and if you can contribute to these efforts or would like to purchase your Giant Pizza Cutter to help with this project, your money will go to a wonderful cause to help restore our Veteran's grave sites.

Or for more details contact the Main Minnesota Office at 612-423-4216


Photos used with permission from the Gravegroomers.com website.