|
|
Ruralite Cafe: Published 3/23/00By Lisa Majors-DuffEffort under way to restore County Home Cemetery |
|
|
|
|
Cafe regulars have accused me of writing about the two most infamous of all human inevitabilities - death and taxes. And I guess that's true since on the front page this week I covered the county's tax value increase, and here I plan to tell you all I know about the Jackson County Home Cemetery.
I began this endeavor last week when Alvin Frady of Sylva called to let me know about his plans to restore the cemetery located behind Ingles supermarket. Frady's grandparents and some great aunts and uncles are buried in the cemetery, he said, and he'd like to see it once again be a place of honor. "The information I've collected indicates that my relatives died of either TB or cancer at the old county home," he said. "The way I understand it, a carpenter above Massie's Furniture in Sylva built the coffins as needed and chain-gang labor dug the holes." The Jackson County Home, I found out from county finance officer Darlene Fox, was located in about the location of the big parking lot at Southwestern Community College, just off Webster Road. The building looked to have been constructed near the turn of the century, said Steve Gray, who as a child played in the woods behind the cemetery without ever knowing of its existence. The purpose of the home, which Fox believes to have been the county's first nursing home, was to care for those county residents "who had nowhere else to go." The patients' care was subsidized by federal programs. When these "poor" people passed away, they were buried in the County Home Cemetery. The list of those buried in the cemetery is 18 names long. The names, along with their date of death, are as follows: Dock (Andrew) Mathis, Dec. 21, 1934; Henry Roberson, Oct. 12, 1929; Margaret Baker, April 6, 1930; Asbury Wood, July 21, 1933; J.A. Wilson, Nov. 13, 1927; Pemila Wilson, Dec. 12, 1917; Lonnie Franks, March 17, 1956; William Cochran, April 27, 1933; Rhuben Frady, Aug. 3, 1932; Clarisa Jenkins, May 17, 1940; Linda Harris, Nov. 29, 1942; Marah Hall, Aug. 24, 1943; Wilt Mason, March 20, 1923; Ellen L. Mathews, Sept. 7, 1924; Malinda Shulp, Nov. 11, 1924; Rhoda Jane Frady Frady Patton, Oct. 19, 1916; T. Avery Woodring, June 12, 1925; and Emma Wood, Dec. 13, 1931. A hike to the site Tuesday turned out to be a great excuse to enjoy some beautiful weather. Steve offered to go along, as I'd gotten his curiosity up with all my questions. After reaching the halfway mark on the hill with no stones in sight, I was about to give up. "But we haven't reached the top yet," he said, anxious to continue the climb. I pushed on, even though it was becoming evident that new navy flats were not designed for hiking. Sure enough, right on top of the knoll, we found the cemetery. Two engraved stones still stand, with a few other depressions in the earth marked only by head and foot markers. We were able to identify about 12 obvious graves, including those of J.A. Wilson and his wife, Pemila, and Lonnie Franks, whose final resting place is indicated by a mildewed piece of paper inside a tin marker. The County Home was torn down in the early 1980s, about the time Community Care opened for operation in Cullowhee, Fox said. By this time the county also had other rest homes and nursing facilities to care for those in need. Though the land where the home sat was given to SCC for its Sylva campus, the land where the cemetery is still belongs to Jackson County. Work to restore the cemetery has been estimated at about $5,000, which Frady hopes folks with relatives there will donate to the cause. Mr. Frady and I are interested in learning more about the old Jackson County Home and Cemetery. Pictures of the building would be most appreciated, and stories would be welcome. Those with either can reach Frady at 586-0809 or me at the newspaper. |
Back to Archive: 03/23/00. |