Frightening - Old Poplar Springs Cemetery Visit

In honor of Halloween this week, Amy has suggested the theme, "Frightening"!  I had to really think hard to come up with something related to that theme.


But, I finally did and it is a visit to a cemetery in Mississippi!


In the summer of 1991, after Vera had died in March, my mother and I decided to take a family history journey to Tennessee and Mississippi.  It was a great trip and we were able to visit many cemeteries, court houses, libraries and interesting sites related to my ancestral families, both on my mom's and my dad's side.

My mother, Dorothy Nell Clark Springer 1990

The first leg of the trip was to visit Ramer, Tennessee, which is near Selmer, the county seat of McNairy County.

For the first few days, we based our operations from a motel, The Southwind Inn, in Selmer and made day trips from there.

Mother kept a running narrative of the places we visited, what we spent and what we accomplished, and that is very helpful now, since trying to remember what happened 27 years ago is not very easy!  Here are the pages she wrote concerning the story about the frightening trip to the cemetery!  

On this day, July 17, 1991, we left Selmer and drove to Tupelo, Mississippi, but were not successful in finding anything related to the Pitts family that we were searching for.  So, we drove on to Aberdeen and spent some time at the library.  Mom makes a note about the flowers along the sidewalks and sides of the streets.  We left Aberdeen about 3 pm and drove on to Pontotoc.  

Court House, Pontotoc, Mississippi

We met a very nice man at the library who made a copy and gave us a map of the cemeteries in the area, shared information and even kept the library open late to help us.  

So, now it's about 5:30 pm and we are starting on a journey to a cemetery to search for the graves of Elijah and Lucinda (Lewis Johnson) Pitts, mother's great grandparents.  We followed the map, but were unsure we were on the right road, so we stopped at Hogue's Store to ask directions.  

 Assured that we were on the right road, we followed the map and directions several miles down a gravel road, then, per the map, turned down a dirt road.  The farther we went on this dirt road, the deeper the ruts got, and mother and I became concerned that we would get stuck in a rut and not get out.  Remember, this was 1991, and there was no such thing as a cell phone and the nearest place that might have a phone was back at Hogue's Store!  Well, after about a mile, the road was completely blocked by a fallen tree.  We knew that we had not found the cemetery, yet, so mother decided to stay in the car and I would go on - on foot - and try to find the cemetery.  According to mother's notes, I left at 6 pm.  While I was walking down this deep-rutted dirt road lined with trees and thick  underbrush, I was hoping that I did not encounter any wildlife - especially snakes or wolves or coyotes.  And then I began to hear loud thunder in the distance.  The sun was still shining, but the clouds and thunder foretold of a coming storm. I continued walking and finally I found the cemetery, and was very disappointed!  It was a fenced area, or I would never have recognized it as a cemetery, but was terribly overgrown.

There was no sign giving the name of the cemetery, but according to the map and directions, this was the correct place, the Old Poplar Springs Cemetery.  So, needless to say, even though I found the cemetery, I was unable to confirm the burial of Elijah and Lucinda here.

It is possible that they are buried somewhere else because the only clue that we have that suggests this cemetery is the family story told by the three orphaned children, in their teens, and passed down through the generations.  The children moved to Texas soon after their parents died.  Here is a list of "known" burials, but as it states, it is NOT complete.   http://msgw.org/pontotoc/cemeteries/oldpoplarsprings.htm.

So, I made my way back to the car, while the thunder continued and the sun continued to set.  Mother said I was gone only about 20 minutes, but it seemed like a lot longer!  As we "backed out" on the dirt road, we saw what looked like another cemetery near the road.  It was really impossible to tell for sure, because the whole area was covered with Kudzu!  

Reaching the gravel road, we were finally able to turn around and drive "forward" back to Hogue's Store.  I went in and told the man there about the condition of the cemetery and the road, and he said that his father was buried there, but he had not been by in several years.  

As we were driving back to Selmer, the thundering continued and night fell.  We had not encountered any snakes, wolves, or coyotes and had not gotten stuck in the deep ruts on that dirt road, but I must say it was a rather frightening experience, way out in the country, a long way from help!

'Til Next Time!

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