Hi,
First of all I want to commend Lois and all on the fine job being done
in the drafting a petition and contacting our legislators.
I wanted to let you know that I visited a couple of pioneer cemeteries
in the Parke county area of IN. One in Union township called the De
Baun Cemetery. and one in Washington township Called the Rawlings
Cemetery. I wanted to let you all know that the people in charge of
the property gave me free access to the Cemeteries and even offered
to guide me there personally. The DeBaun Cemetery is aging gracefully
in the middle of the woods on a hill. I was told by Ronnie Brook (in
charge of the property) that the prior fall there were a couple of
volunteer descendants of the Swaim Family that had cleared brush and
cut weeds. I was able to locate and call one of the volunteers and
personally thank him for his efforts.
The cemetery was easy to walk through and most of the stones were
readible. The red bud trees and the dogwood were in bloom with a few
wild bulb type flowers growing throughout.
The Rawlings Cemetery was not as remote and was not as easy to get
through as there was some type of thick vine growing on the ground.
This same vine seemed to be pulling down the flat stones and there
were seedling trees statrting to grow all over the interior. The
cemetery was otherwise in a beautiful location and was located on a
small hill with a stream below. Mrs. Asbury ( Person in charge of the
property) told me that some local pioneer group was trying to
organize at that time to try and preserve not only that cemetery but
others in the Parke county area.
I know that these two cemeteries are somewhat remote compared to the
others that are featured on the web page, and therefor do not suffer
from the constant abuse. I did want you to know that there are people
in IN that care about the cemeteries and although not a part of this
group are doing their part just the same to keep these cemeteries from
harm.
Don Huffman
Susanville ,Ca
crfordy(a)thegrid.net