NEWBERRY VILLAGE CEMETERY

Photo here show standing together a group of Confederate War gravestones representing both Union and Confederate veterans interred in the old Village Cemetery. Because of age of the burial ground (pre civil war) there are likely at rest a number of Patriots who served in the American Revolution that are deserving the same recognition. As a project of importance for the year 2011 it has been suggested that gravestones be provided those Revolutionary War Patriots who are interred within The Village Cemetery as well.

Note the cluster of Civil War Soldier graves standing alone in what was once a vastly overcrowded cemetery, markers now gone. Nearby can be seen the rubble left by vandals and acts of nature through the years. Graves, now unmarked were all about and as can be seen from the air, showing disturbed soil.

SAR VISITS GRIFFIN CEMETERY

Early morning of June 2010 Sons of American Revolution led by Lee Walsh visited a very old and interesting cemetery of the Griffin family, located about 4 miles deep in the woods from Belfast House, within Newberry County.

As we approached the cemetery we could see the wonderful workmanship of the large beautifully cut stones that surrounded the graves. Here it was evident that much care had been taken in the cutting and placing of the stones, not the work of a single unassisted person.

We walked around to the entrance. Just to one side of the entrance the large stones were scattered in a pile, knocked down by the falling of a very large tree, the tree no longer visible. Only small undergrowth obstructed our entry into the cemetery. It was clearly evident that a second wall suffered the same kind of damage.

A few yards from the entryway we found the stone marker of the Patriot Griffin. Like most all stones in the cemetery it had long ago been broken down by falling timber. We clearly read the name Griffin, however. This was the Revolutionary War hero that descendant Mrs. Allen from Dallas, Texas came in search of.

The condition of the cemetery was unlike any I have ever seen. Very few monuments were still standing in the large area and those that were, for the most part, were difficult if not impossible to read. There were large stump holes where timber had long ago rotted. While many of the tombstones were flattened to the ground there was no heavy timber that might have caused it. Long ago the damage makers had given way to the recycling of nature. Very few trees were standing within the cemetery although there were many vines of various sorts along with other undergrowth.