Lutheran Church Cemetery, Bardstown, Nelson Co, KY

Today I wanted to post a cemetery that really means a lot to me. This is the burial place of my 3rd-great-grandparents.
Lutheran Church Cemetery(church no longer stands), northwest of Bardstown, Kentucky. Take Highway 245 to Lutheran Church Rd, left and the cemetery is 1/4 mile on the left.

I visited this cemetery July 2008. I was rather disappointed to see how much vandalism had taken place here. I wish I lived closer so that I could do more for it. In the second photo, the row on the right, the 2nd and 3rd headstones are of my relatives. I was also disappointed to see that my great-great-great-grandfather, Samuel Heffley, did not have a military headstone. From what I've been told from family, he was a Kentucky Sharpshooter and served with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. It was sad not to see "War of 1812" noted or even a flag at his grave. In fact, much of the cemetery seemed to have the surname of "Heffley", and certainly they are all cousins of mine.

My 3rd great-grandparents:
Samuel B Heffley Sep 20, 1792-Aug 13, 1965
Elizabeth Mathis Heffley Jan 3, 1798-Jan 20, 1891

And I also found buried here who I believe are Elizabeth's parents(4x great-grandparents):
Conrod Mathis Jun 16, 1746-Sep 6, 1832
Mary Magdelena Sep 19, 1750-Jan 13, 1833
(these markers CLEARLY show CONROD although all records I find list the names as CONRAD, and MATHIS, though it is spelled other places as MATHEWS)

And a brother of hers and his wife:
Conrod Mathis March 5, 1787-March 26, 1832
Mary M [Streit] Mathis Aug 26, 1789-May 8, 1844


**I am researching this on other sites as I type this**

And I find that possibly Conrad Mathews(Mathis), 1746-1832, may have served in a Maryland unit during the Revolutionary War-which makes this another in my list of Revolutionary ancestors! And his father came from (shock!) France-though technically, Alsace was part of Germany at times so it is more likely that they were 'technically' German(as are nearly all of my ancestors). Elizabeth's mother, Mary, has the maiden name of Weller, and there are quite a few of her brothers and their families buried here as well. Apparently many of the Weller and Mathews and Heffley familes moved from the Frederick County, Maryland area to Nelson County, Kentucky sometime between 1790 and 1800.

Some of the other surnames found here are Lutz, Shoptaugh, and Miller(I really only photographed Heffleys and the older markers).

Morton Cemetery, Rutherford County, TN

Morton Cemetery, located on Poplar Wood Rd, just east of the intersection with Rocky Fork Rd. Smyrna, Rutherford County, Tennessee.

I wanted to go from the big to the small for my 2nd cemetery of the day. This is a small cemetery not far from where I live. And I have mixed feelings about it. A few years ago I had searched for this cemetery but didn't find it as it was hidden deep in some woods behind a private home. And then along came the Rutherford County Schools. The home had actually been vacant at the time(if I had known, I probably would have poked around more), and the land was bought for the building of a new elementary and middle school.
So on one hand, the cemetery was found, moved and saved. It was moved to a spot at one of the entrances to the schools. Unfortunately, the beautiful old Morton home(pictured below) did not survive- though the core of the home, the original log house, was saved and relocated to Rock Island, Tennessee(I've been there recently and couldn't find it-I should ask a park attendant next time).

A nice new monument to those known buried here was also added. The names on it are the same as the markers that are mostly broken and laid flat in the newly fenced area. There are 4 average stone markers and 1 box tomb that is laid flat in many pieces.

Those buried here are:
GW Morton July 24, 1839-March 14, 1869
James Wilson Morton Feb 1, 1811-Feb 11, 1868
Anna Eliza Hicks Morton Nov 19, 1828-Oct 24, 1878
James Wilson Morton Nov 25, 1785-Apr 10, 1859(the large box tomb)
Nancy Newsom Morton 1789-Jan 26, 1869 wife of James Morton

Many reports came out at the time of the moving that this was possibly the resting place of a Revolutionary War soldier, however there is another Morton Cemetery just west of here on the top of a hill that is supposedly the true resting place of Revolutionary War Soldier, James B Morton. Most likely they are related, but I cannot confirm this at this time.

Many thanks to Rutherford County for at least saving this cemetery, unlike the many that have been simply bulldozed for subdivisions and "progress". I hope to see more like this as our county continues to grow.

Arlington National Cemetery

A fitting way to start this blog off.






Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Across the Potomac River from Washington DC. Probably the most famous cemetery in America.

These photos were taken from a trip I took there in December of 2003. I loved the way everything looked with the snow. I've also visited Arlington at least 3 other times that I can remember. I can't help but list this as my favorite cemetery to visit.

Shown in the photos above include John F Kennedy's grave and eternal flame; The Memorial Amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; and the statue of Major General Philip Kearny, a United States General during the Civil War. Arlington House, the home of Robert E Lee prior to the Civil War, can be seen in the second photo. And the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument can be seen in the distance in the final photo.

There is so much to say about this solemn place, but I can hardly find the right words. If you have been there, you know what I mean. If you have not, I would rank it among the top 10 places to see in America. All Americans should pay their respects to those who died for our freedoms.

For more information, please visit the official website.

Rutherford County Cemetery info

Hello, my name is Kim and I live in Rutherford County, Tennessee. I spend as much time as I can(which lately hasn't been as much as I would like) researching and visiting and photographing the many, many cemeteries and graveyards in our county. According to the new book published by the Rutherford County Historical Society, there are close to 760 cemeteries in our county. Yes, some of those listed in the book are actually in surrounding counties, but not enough to diminish the fact that our county has A LOT of cemeteries!

I have had a website dedicated to locating and photographing the tombstones here almost ever since I moved here in 2002. I have to admit that in the past 3 years I've had a number of setbacks, such as car trouble after car trouble and the whole thing with my mom losing her home to Hurricane Katrina. And getting hooked on a video game that has taken up entirely too much of my time in the past 3 years!

I have recently been inspired to get back at it and hope I can finally get quite a bit of my information on to my website. I cannot spend the time traveling the back roads like I used to locating new cemeteries, but that gives me more time to hopefully get what I can uploaded(photos from about 200 of the over 700 cemeteries!). I will still try to get out with the family when the weekends are nice. And I will post about what I find on my personal blog.

I am hoping that anyone that comes across my Rutherford County Tombstone Photo Project website and has any questions or information to add will choose to respond here. I've had far too much trouble with e-mails in the past and my last yahoo address is only ever filled with hundreds of spam e-mails and I simply don't have the time to sift through them all. It is much easier to check here every day to see if anyone responds.

And as I've mentioned on most pages of my website, I don't take outside submissions now as the photos are on my personal website that is a personal scrapbook for my photos of all subjects. While this is somewhat a "for the public" project, 99% of my website is photos taken on my many vacations and I prefer to keep all photos on my website my own. There is another Rutherford County cemetery blog that has been started that does take outside submissions, they are also a great place to check for those cemeteries I haven't visited yet.

Thank you.