Back in the Woods

Back in the Woods. . The oldest graves at Old Mulkey aren't at Old Mulkey, they are at Mill Creek. It's not the Mill Creek built in 1811 but the Mill Creek built in 1798. If you are confused, you aren't alone. In order to regain your bearings you must remember the first Meetinghouse was the original home of Mill Creek Baptist Church and was built approximately 600 feet west of the current building. As was the custom, once there was a church, a cemetery came soon after.1 When the current Meetinghouse was built in 1804, a new section of the cemetery was established outside it. So there are actually two sections of cemetery within the park grounds., Older cemeteries in Kentucky, and especially church cemeteries, were developed around several Christian customs concerning the second coming of Christ. The most common was for graves to face the east, which allowed the dead to be facing the eastern sky during the resurrection. In addition cemeteries were normally filled from the eastern boundary to the western, so the first to die would be the first to arise. A cemetery on a hill would be filled from the top to the bottom, so the first to die were closer to heaven and again would rise first. African American graves were normally segregated and would be to the west of the whites. Cedar trees were often planted at the corners or gateways of the cemeteries in reference to the biblical "cedars of Lebanon", Many early graves were marked with various types of vegetation. Vinca minor, commonly referred to as periwinkle, was so popular that it became known as "graveyard ivy.” Spring bulbs, such as Dutchman's breeches and daffodils which symbolized rebirth, were the choice for marking babies' graves. Yuca plants, commonly known as Joshua's tree, were popular from 1880-1920. , Ancient burial grounds and primitive structures are not protected from the natural regeneration of the Kentucky hardwood forest. Slowly and quite deliberately, Mother Nature will reclaim what was hers. All that remains of the first cemetery are chunks of fieldstone, depressions of numerous graves and a great deal of vinca. There are no records to indicate how many people were buried there. A noted Monroe County genealogist believes that hundreds of people were buried at Old Mulkey within the two sections of cemetery. Due to the lack of early death records and the burning of our courthouse during the Civil War, it would be impossible to prove his theory., Sometime prior to 1955 the Edwin Steen family of Gamaliel placed a large monument in the original section of cemetery as a memorial to their ancestors Art, Elmira, Peggy and Gemima Jackson; cousins to Stonewall Jackson. It is a moderate hike of approximately 1/8 mile (650ft) to the monument. Benches are placed along the trail for your convenience. There are also a variety of birdhouses in sight of the trail., Just beyond the monument you will begin to hear the rippling of the church's namesake, the Mill Creek. When asked why the church was built here, park staff point visitors to that creek. While there is no documented evidence of a site selection committee, there is documented evidence that the church required immersion for baptism., Though you may find water in the creek at the end of the park road or flowing from the park spring these sources combined could not supply enough water for the work of the church. However, the Mill Creek could. In fact, after this congregation split, the smaller group which continued as Mill Creek Baptist Church built upstream just a short distance from here. They continued to use the Mill Creek for baptizing until 1998., Photo caption: Memorial to Art, Elmira, Peggy, and Gemima Jackson.