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Welcome to the
Friends of
Springhill Historic Memorial Garden Homepage
Springhill Cemetery is located in Hernando, Desoto
County, Mississippi on 5 grassy and wooded acres at the northwest corner of the
intersection of Oak Grove Road and Church Street/Robinson Gin Road,
southwest of the Square and east of the Middle School in the West End
neighborhood.
Visit us soon for a walk or picnic. Please, no dogs or bike riding on
grounds.
To support this community-based reclamation and
restoration project, visit the JOIN/DONATE page. Then you can
sign up for updates on events and participate in garden work days.
April 14, 2013, from 2pm till 5pm.
Springhill Cemetery Cleaning Day
We will mulch, clear privet, and cleaning
headstone.
At 5pm, Mary Evelyn Starr, M.A. Anthropology, will
give a tour of Springhill Cemetery.
The city of Hernando's original (1836) public burial ground.
Marco and Jermal Thorton, swing blading north hill side!
Northwest Mississippi Community College, Civil Technology, Tommy Watson
Instructor
The
Explorer’s Club was formed to promote interest and education in the
great outdoors. To accomplish this, the Club organized nature walks,
participated in tree-planting, helped with the restoration of Springhill
Cemetery in Hernando and went Geocaching several times. Contact Bud
Donahou at (662) 562-3379 or
bdonahou@northwestms.edu.
Planning for
an Historic Memorial Garden
Springhill Cemetery lies on a high, wooded, ridge
two blocks southwest of the Hernando courthouse. The town of Hernando
lies on a topographic high in the Coldwater River basin of northwestern
Mississippi, on the dividing ridge between Hurricane Creek to the north,
Mussacuna Creek to the south and Short Fork Creek to the east. All are
direct tributaries of the Coldwater River. The cemetery is gullied and
surrounded by cutbanks and ravines. While the location is eroded and gullied
loess, but on the ridgetop there is dark rich soil like once covered the
North Central Hills of Mississippi.
Springhill Cemetery was established as a donation,
as shown on the plat of the
original grid of Hernando (in the Chancery Clerk's office), from 1836, when the new town, then called Jefferson, was
platted. Hernando is the first and only seat as of Desoto County,
created shortly after the Chickasaw Cession at the 1832 Treaty of
Pontotoc. The family groups of graves, two or three to eight or ten in
rows aligned north-south and facing east. Provision of a public burial
ground at the outskirts of towns was a major movement in Victorian urban
planning; and still provided a burial site alternative after church,
plantation and
isolated family cemeteries came into building. Besides grazing for town
cows, a nineteenth century town's graveyard was also an open space for strolling and
contemplation. Springhill was used primarily in the antebellum period,
with some later 19th and 20th century interments. After the yellow fever
epidemic of 1878 almost destroyed the town, few families still used it.
The core of the cemetery contains numerous examples of high-quality but
often damaged stonework; however, the cemetery also is highly likely to
contain hundreds of unmarked nineteenth century graves. Many cemeteries
had annual days for visiting and cleaning graves, and in the late
nineteenth century community contributions kept it fenced. But as
families died out or moved on, the cemetery was largely abandoned by
1900, and it fell into neglect and eventually was used as a cattle pasture
and woodlot.
Springhill Cemetery is located along the south
boundary of Section 13, Township 2 South, Range 8 West of the Chickasaw
Principal Meridian, in the southwest quarter of said Section 13, or
at latitude N 34 degrees, 48 minutes, 57 seconds, longitude W 90 degrees, 00
minutes, 03 seconds. The elevation is about 360’ above sea level while
the surrounding creek valleys lie at about 240’ amsl. The site is
steeply sloping loess surrounding a partly grassy and partly
hardwood-covered ridgetop, with an unusual light, soft, dark brown loam.
There are sunny, sloping south and east cutbanks; a flat, street-side
parking/sports area; a north slope deep gully, and several wooded flats
and hillsides besides the main, grassy ridge top where the historic
gravestones are.
Evergreens, particularly cedar, holly and magnolia,
are traditional features of old Southern cemeteries. We have begun
replacing cedar stumps with cedar seedlings. We plan to focus our
gardening efforts on such native trees and shrubs. While the location is
mostly high and well-drained land that is dominated by hickories and
small undergrowth, it
once supported a wider range of oaks as well. The soil is very unusual
for the loess hills, with a dark loamy topsoil like that the first
farmers found in the Chickasaw cession. There is a steep, deep,
north-facing ravine and a wet seep and drainage area, and cover ranges
from south-facing, full-sun slopes to heavy shade. While we plan to
focus on planting native species, we would also like to
set aside particular areas for African and Asian gardens, to demonstrate
the introduction of many Old World plants during the 19th century. Tree
replacement should also emphasize those that provide sources of food for
birds and other wildlife, especially native nut and berry-bearing trees
and bushes, and flowering species attractive to bees and other
beneficial insects.
The skull and crossbones reminds us "As you are now, I once was. As I am now, you soon
shall be." Monument with Odd Fellows symbols, Wiley Jones, in need of
reassembling.
Hernando Lodge
Assets and
Liabilities
A tract of land such as Springhill Cemetery
constitutes an asset as well as a liability for the City of Hernando. It
is foremost a liability in terms of the expense of upkeep, maintenance
and policing. However, with proper planning and management this old
graveyard could become an asset. Botanic gardens take many years to
mature, and our tree-planting work today can only be fully realized many
decades in the future.
Desoto County is rapidly urbanizing. Green space is
going to be increasingly at a premium, particularly when it is public
property in the middle of the county seat. A park-like use is in keeping with the historic 19th century
tradition of the suburban cemetery as a sort of public strolling park as well as burial
ground. This long-neglected tract could be used in ways that enhance
wildlife habitat, and at the same time provide recreational and
educational opportunities. Such respectful uses would be appropriate and in
keeping with the funerary character of the site, and should include
low-impact (earth or mulch) trails or paths, which would not be a
adverse impact to the historically significant landscape.
Our Politics
We want to help preserve Springhill Cemetery as
part of the Hernando parks system. The site is partly wooded and partly
open, and is currently being mowed and cleared by the city and
other agencies and community volunteers. Remote sensing to locate
unmarked graves and repair of monuments is needed to assess the historic
significance of the old public burial ground. We also recommend
plantings of native species and historically appropriate non-native
species to improve green space and outdoor recreational opportunities for
the area. The ultimate goal of the project is to conserve the existing
historical character of the cemetery while making the cemetery an asset
rather than liability for the city.
Springhill Cemetery seems to be eligible for the
National Register of Historic Places and/or designation as a Mississippi
Landmark. Any modifications such as trails and plantings should be
carefully considered to contribute to the historical character of the
gravesites in the proposed National Register Boundaries. Planting any
non-native plants should
emphasize species typical of regional historical graveyards. Selection of the
right native and naturalized plantings will also minimize maintenance
costs. Likewise, any hard modifications (fences, gravel, concrete, new
monuments) to the core of the site should be carefully limited, so as
not to detract from the unique historic character of the Hernando's old
burial ground.
Why We Need
Your Help
Any work at the Springhill Cemetery has to be
carried out in cooperation with the city public works department. The
collaboration of civic groups is sought as well. The cemetery has the potential
to contribute to the larger heritage tourism industry, but it would need
significant investments to make it an attractive resource.
Volunteer contributions of time, labor and
materials will be used whenever possible. This should include schools
and other youth programs, which can both contribute to the enhancement of the
site and allow kids to learn while doing so. As Springhill Cemetery is within a block
of the public middle school, it should be considered a resource for the
school, with the potential for real-world science labs as well as
history projects. All garden work teaches perseverance, thoroughness,
forward-thinking and long-term planning. Visible and real
accomplishments teach self-respect and an appreciation of the returns of
labor. Each weekend that volunteers work, we make a little progress in
reclaiming Springhill Cemetery from kudzu, honeysuckle and privet hedge. Whenever possible, participants should be given surplus bulbs,
seedlings and cuttings for their own yards and encourage
them to think of the cemetery as a community asset. It is only thru an
investment and commitment of the young people of the area that this
project will be a success, because the trees we planted in 2011 will
take 50 to 100 years to mature.
The tombstones at Springhill vary from good
condition to badly fragmented. While there are only about 100 monuments,
there a probably hundreds of unmarked graves. The only way to find out
is through remote sensing and more traditional types of archaeology.
Like gardening, archaeology is time-consuming as well as educational
work. We would like to do any conservation (repairs) to monuments in
keeping with best practices, and to use the work to hold a public
seminar and laboratory in cemetery conservation for representatives of
local cemeteries.
Grave of Sarah Roe,
surrounded by cast iron fence. In the back ground, two of only 6
20th century monuments, Stewart and his step-son Ferguson.
Please visit
Springhill Cemetery often, but respect this historic sacred space--
Public
property is your property and your responsibility—
The city and county can only afford basic
maintenance—
So YOUR support is essential!
THANKS, PARKS DEPARTMENT FOR YOUR HELP PUTTING THE
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