Welcome to Retracing Our Roots with your host, Sammy Raycraft, and historian Vincent Anderson. This week, we’re exploring old and unique cemeteries in the Twin Lakes Region.
First, we’ll visit the Old Midway Cemetery in Marion County, home to an unusual burial: Jesse Tabor’s foot. There’s bound to be more to this story in the future!
Next, we head to Talburt Casey Cemetery in the Indian Creek subdivision in Mountain Home, dating back to the pre-1852. This cemetery features distinctive stack-stone graves, which could use some restoration and rearranging. We’ll hear about Baxter County native Uncle Walt Talburt’s work on this cemetery in 1904 and listen to the touching words of his obituary as he was laid to rest there.
From there, we cross into Fulton County to the Grisso Cemetery. Here, we uncover the heartwarming story of an enslaved man who built a unique stone house grave (as seen in the accompanying photo) for his brother, who tragically died of smallpox. Surprisingly, the cemetery’s owners, the Grisso family, were never buried in their own cemetery. We also clarify the mystery of the “Black U.S. Soldier, 1860” buried here: his last name was Black, but he was not an African-American soldier. We’ll explain why.
Our next stop is back in Baxter County at the Old Athens Cemetery where we revisit the grave of Hunter Wilson. His murder was mentioned in a previous episode. We’ll also discuss the rare stone-box coffins with neck-discoid markers at the head and foot of a mother and daughter’s gravesite. These unique burials are a treasure to behold.
Lastly, we visit the beautiful Country Line Cemetery, notable for its set of privies—each a three-seater outhouse! Plus, the view from this Ozark prairie ridge is worth the drive, as we can see the hills rolling for miles.
As always, our journey is filled with the stunning Ozark scenery of winding county and dirt roads.
We truly appreciate your support, emails, and suggestions. Special thanks to Rapp’s Barren Brewing Company for sponsoring Retracing Our Roots!
