Inquirer: Revisiting sacred sites that could use some help again

Today we will revisit some of our ancestors, long since dead and buried and, in some cases, not as well remembered as others.

Since the dawn of this feature, we have written about several cemeteries in varying states of maintenance and at times in the oddest of places. And we've met some interesting people who try to maintain these final resting places.

Among the first we looked at is one of the most visible and notable in the county -- the Cooper family plot at the intersection of Warm Springs and Miller roads. Samuel Cooper, a Revolutionary War soldier, and his two children are buried there, and the place wasn't in very good shape in July 2012. But after learning about the state of the cemetery, the local chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution fittingly stepped in and restored the small plot to a proper state. They still keep an eye on it and make sure it's presentable, and it still is.

The oddest location for any cemetery we've written about is the Nix Family Cemetery, which

is behind a strip mall on Buena Vista Road, near Floyd Road. It was a little later that same year when I met Jeff Nix, a descendant of some of those buried there. At the time, you couldn't even tell it was a cemetery. It was completely overgrown and unless you knew exactly where to look, no grave markers were even visible.

Nix wanted to restore the cemetery, but it was too big of a job for one person. After reading about the plight of the Nix cemetery, something akin to what happened at the Cooper family cemetery happened at this one. Members of the Sons of the Confederacy and two local Masonic lodges turned out for a work day. After all, Nix's great-great grandfather, William Alexander Nix, fought in the Civil War and was a high-ranking Mason.

I went by the old Nix cemetery last week and it looks like it could use a little more work. It's certainly much better than it was when I first saw it, but some of the underbrush is starting to creep back in and a large limb split off of a cedar and needs cutting up and hauling away.

Then there's the old Shiloh Cemetery, tucked away in the woods near the intersection of Whitesville and Double Churches roads. I wrote about this one in 2013, when a young man named Travis Finney was undertaking the cleanup of the overgrown cemetery as his Eagle Scout project. He, along with some scout helpers, did a heck of a job clearing away brush and overgrowth. Shiloh has another of the handful of Revolutionary War soldiers buried here. This one is Capt. Philemon Hodges of the North Carolina Militia, who apparently relocated to Columbus after routing the Redcoats.

Alas, Shiloh could use another Eagle Scout. Again, it's still considerably better than before Travis took it on, but much of the overgrowth has returned, obscuring some of the grave markers.

The good news is that someone is apparently looking after Capt. Hodges' plot, which had a small American flag stuck into the ground when I was there.

Seen something that needs attention? Contact me at 706-5471-8570 or mowen@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published August 30, 2015 at 8:13 PM with the headline "Inquirer: Revisiting sacred sites that could use some help again ."