Preservation of Springhill Cemetery

As the population of Desoto county is growing rapidly, and is expected to continue to grow, there is an ever-increasing need for public green space. It would be much better to preserve this historic site as parkland near the center of Hernando now than to have to buy land for parks later. Springhill lies along a proposed pedestrian and bike route. There are young woods, grass and a few old trees on the lot now, and kudzu control has begun. The cemetery about 90% nineteenth century markers, with very few after 1900. As such, it is probably eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and for designation as a Mississippi Landmark.

Springhill is a significant cultural remain from the first days of Hernando. Southern cemeteries are architectural monuments, in a folk tradition that had both tradition-structured placement of materials and use of formal design elements. For instance Springhill still has some of the traditional cedars, vinca and other flowers as well as the native hardwood timber. Cemeteries can also be “read” at a symbolic level as the outcome of social and economic forces. The most obvious instance is the fact that white people got the top of the hill while black people got the side and bottom of the hill, as is almost always the case, even if the “hill” is only a foot high.

Monument conservation needs are varied. Some monuments only need leveling or re-erection while others are heavily damaged and need considerable work. Current best technology for historic marble tombstone repair is being researched at the National Park Service Center for Preservation Technology and Training at Natchitoches, Louisiana. If funding for repairs is obtained, the skills can be passed on to city employees or volunteers for use in future restorations.

Hernando is in the loess bluffs, and the cemetery is on gullied Memphis silt loam soil, a soil type developed in deep, unconsolidated, yellowish-brown wind-blown silt. Loess presents a special problem in that it is a deep, very homogeneous material, without marked soil horizons. All remote sensing methods rely on a contrast between matrix and feature, which may prove to be very subtle in these soils. Loess soils generally have limited soil horizon development, but there are enough clay-size particles that slightly indurated illuvial horizons can sometimes be identified; breaks in these slight hardpans may provide the required contrast. Also, deep loess is nearly neutral (pH 7, with few soluble salts), which indicates that the conductivity/resistivity methods might not be successful, as they require cation exchange. However, if soils do prove to have low acidity, bone preservation should be good, at least in adult graves, and these skeletal materials provide the free ions necessary for success with conductivity.