Pap was born in 1937. He spent the first years of his life on the Harshaw Farm. Pap’s father, Wade, and his grandfather, Benjamin, were sharecroppers for the large plantation.
The Harshaw Farm was established in the 1800’s and has the undesirable moniker of being the largest Slave plantation in the area. According to the Cherokee County Historical Museum’s book: A Pictorial History of Cherokee County in the year 1860 Abram Harshaw was the largest slave owner in Cherokee County. He had 43 slaves.
A while back, me, Pap, and my friend Anna spent some time at the old Harshaw Farm. We poked around the woods, met the present owners of the farm,but mostly we listened to Pap remember what the farm was like when he was a boy.
Pap told us about a big snow, how his Mother caught fish from the river and took them to the big house to trade for things she needed, he remembered a big long row of outhouses (so the workers didn’t have to wait in line), he told us humorous stories about the escapades he and his Uncle Wayne got into. Along the way I’ll tell you some of Pap’s stories, but today I want to show you the Harshaw Family Cemetery. Its maintained by the present owner of the farm even though he is no relation to the folks who rest under the trees nor does he have any obligation to keep it up.
The family plot is above the farmland as most mountain cemeteries are. It is totally enclosed by a rock wall.
On each side there are steps that lead up and over the wall.
One set of steps up one set down into the enclosed graveyard. The steps on the far side have almost been covered completely by moss and leaves. The huge tree and it’s roots have caused the steps to deteriorate over the years.
The graves inside the wall cover a large portion of time, well over a hundred years. Some are just rocks while there is one as recent as the 1980s.
Especially interesting are the few graves that lie outside the enclosed wall. There was this one, nothing legible left to read if there ever was anything.
There was John Webb 1846-1892.
There was this newer stone set to represent 3 members of the same family: Absalom, Phillip, and Mary Lou Johnson.
Lastly, there was a man Pap remembered from his time spent at the farm: John W. Parris.
Pap told us he remembered attending a funeral at the cemetery with his Mother, but can’t remember who it was for. None of the stones we read fit into the time line of when Pap lived on the farm. Makes me wonder if there were more stones outside of the wall that have been lost through the passage of time.
Pap was pleased to see an effort was being made to keep up the old cemetery. Over the years the farm has changed hands several times-and the owners weren’t always interested in keeping up somebody else’s family plot. In the late 60’s-early 70’s Pap said the cemetery became a hang out, a place for folks to party at. It was secluded and out of the way the perfect place to raise cain.
One night the party goers got out of hand. A gentleman who was running the farm took a rifle and went up to the cemetery to run the gang out. No one knows what happened for sure, but the farm representative ended up dead beaten to death with his own gun. Pap said they had investigations and even a trial, but no one was ever convicted. None of the living ever fessed up to what actually took place and of course none of the dead did either.
Tipper
My family is buried there in Harshaw as well they were yaqui Indians that work in the mine. I love the big tree and the little stream that runs in front of it. My great grand parent headstones are unreadable now I need to get them new ones.
Hello My name is Sherice Harshaw and my great great great great granddaddy was Joshua Harshaw I love the fact that you all enjoyed the pictures and house
sherice, I presently live in Harshaw Farms. are there any publications regarding the family and plantation?
Thank you for this wonderful story, music and the photos. My father was born in Murphy in 1904 and I am trying to write about his early years. It’s great to see others have great memories of this place. I hope to visit someday.
hello just found you. i live at the harshaw place. please come by again and bring your father with more stories. jim
jim morgan
I would be happy for my final resting place to be in that cemetery. I might be related to the Johnsons and Parris buried there. Both names are in my family tree. There were several intermarriages between Parris and Ensleys.
I LOVE that old cemetery! So interesting.
So sad about the fella being beaten with his own gun.
Kimberly-I would think you are right-to keep the cows and pigs out-and to offer a more respectful area too.
Blind Pig The Acorn
Celebrating and Preserving the
Culture of Appalachia
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Very cool cemetary and how nice that it’s being taken care of now. Poor farmer though, that’s too bad. Who ever did it had to live with that for the rest of their lives. I hope the deceased have aided in reminding them.. boo!
I love this post, Tipper. What a nice thing for the present owners to keep the cemetary up…such a small place with so many stories and history.
Tipper, love, love this story. I have spent more time than the average person tromping through old cemeteries. My SIL has been researching family history for many years, and I have searched many a cemetery for a particular stone. Always look forward to your posts!
That really is a beautiful, old cemetery and so nice of the present owners to keep it up. I really enjoyed the story, even though the ending took me by surprise.
Wow, what a story!! My husband’s great grandparents are buried in a small family cemetery in the defunct town of Oscosta down on the Washington coast. We’ve tried several times to get permission to access the cemetery, but cannot find an owner to do so… how blessed to have access for you and your family…
Such an interesting place. The story and the images suggest a rich and beautiful story.
i am glad that you and pap got to visit the graveyard.. i hope you write down the stories he tells… so chitter and chatter can read to their children one day. i too loved seeing the moss and leaves around the old steps.. so gracious in their aged state.. thank you so much for sharing. I do love graveyards and the stones and statuary.
sending big ladybug hugs to you all
lynn
Tipper,
What an interesting story…Do you know where the slave cemetary is located? Not all slave cemetaries are marked..a lot of the time the location is just word of mouth, passed down from family members…We have a slave cemetary near here that has finally been marked and fenced with an honorable marble marker, recognizing it with the name etc. It was sort of off to itself..There was a list of names that was thought to be buried there. Some just had a blank stone..
That is so respectful of the land owners to try to take care of the cemetary..I wonder if there was ever a church near by..usually there is and part of the care is taken on by the church…
I am sure some of the old small stones have been removed by vandals. such a shame!
Not me, no way would I want a grave marker in any shape, form or fashion…I would be scared of a haunting of some sort! LOL
Thanks Tipper and Pap
Tipper, I have read that in some family cemeteries in the time frame that this one existed, slaves were buried outside the walls. The graves were marked with only a field stone.
That is such a beautiful cemetery. I am assuming that the steps were build up and over the wall that way to keep the cattle out?
Kimberly
I don’t know if this is the case or not, but I thought that the ones that were buried outside the cemetery walls, were those that were not fitting enough to be buried with the others. Either they were “outside” of the church, they were slaves or Native Americans, or.. they did something so bad they could not be buried in hallowed ground. But I do not know if I am right about that, or that this is the case in this graveyard.
I really enjoyed this story and the pics. So glad you went with your Pap up there.
One of my favorite pastimes is to visit old cemeteries, read their names and wonder about their lives.
I visited one the last time in was in NC and actually saw my family name on one of the stones. While my family is from NC they are from the Mecklenberg County area. Pretty far from Liberty.
God bless the current owners for keeping up the cemetery. So many people seek the resting place of their grandparents and great-grandparents and find that the cemetery is plowed over, or the stones are missing.
Don’t you almost feel like there are voices there talking to you, a story if you could only hear it.
I love old places like this!
That was a sad ending. Wonder if the partys stopped? Like to go to old cemeteries and read tombstones. Sad that so many can’t be read and some are falling over.
If folks want to keep up the grave markers there is an excellent products that will help; it is called D2. Check with the local cemetery folks or go on-line to find it. It not only cleans the stones but it seeps into the pours to prevent mold and mildew from get back in there.
Tipper: You make a feller wonder just how much history is lost by folks not being able to mark a final resting place for their love ones! Times were hard back then and I guess just making it from day to day took priority over laying some body to rest. Thanks for sharing!
Eva Nell
p.s. I missed your posts for the last few weeks! I have been far, far away – but happy to be home!
Tipper,
Nice pictures of Pap’s “Touch of
the Past.” I love reminiscing about times gone by and imagining
the hard times life brought upon
them. But they were filled with the joy of a simplier time where
families looked forward to going
to church and giving thanks for
what they had. And when a family
member died they were brought
back to the house, where friends
and neighbors gathered, some
sitting up all night to share in
the family’s loss…Ken
There are so many stories and lots of history in old cemeteries. I’ll stop at an old cemetery at any given chance.
Love the photos of the old cemetery and glad the present owners are taking care of it.
Yout last comment about the dead not fessing either triggered an old funny memory. In Oak Ridge, Tn. the government of course, went in and created a town! However, they honored the many family cementaries by putting up a fence around them…usually small places, where an old farm had stood. My mother told me if I ran around the graveyard three times and stopped and asked, “What did you die for?” They would answer, “Nothing.” (I was about 7)So, I did it, careful to make it a full three times, asked the question and got mad that I didn’t hear the answer and then the light bulb came on. Mother got a kick out of that!
i like that wall and the steps are beautiful. a really wonderful piece of history behind that wall. and maybe a ghost from the man who was killed there.
Mercy Tipper what an end. I love going to old cemeteries, but I do feel sad when you can’t read the headstones any longer and you wonder if anyone knows who they were.