This cemetery has also been refered to as the "Old Young Cemetery". It has not been readily accessable for many years, because today Julian Young's former farm and his family cemetery has been absorbed by a pine forest and is now owned by a timber company. Also it is currently within the boundaries of a hunting lease that is actively hunted and could be dangerous for those who venture there. It can only be reached by walking, or with a four-wheeler from an area at the end of a private road that dead ends near the boundary of the timber co. Any attempt to access this area without an escourt & permission is not recommended.

It was once able to be reached by a private lane through the woods that was near the side of a house at the Smith Grocery (no longer open), but was later closed off to the public by Mrs Oma Smith as it was on her private property. This lane is now grown up with trees for the last 40 yrs and it cannot be found.

There are two stones still standing, and a third one that is a small metal marker. The top of the metal stone is broken and has no script on the face. It is believed that this is the grave of Melissa N. LEE (widow & second wife of Barton Joseph Young). Melissa had also been Julien's second wife. It stands reasonably close to Julien's stone.

It was given by a woman who said that when she was a girl, the kids would go play near the old cemetery. She had seen as many as thirteen graves, and about ten that had been marked with a carved 'rich-lighter' pine knot.

I sat with Hubert Young at his home near the Simmons Cemetery, and he said he remembers that he had gone to the Young Cemetery as a very young boy with his father, & he specifically remembered there had been as many as 45-50 graves. That would have included many of Juliens' relatives & later his former slaves that had been freed & they stayed with him until their death. They had been buried near Julien's family. Hubert described the pine knot markers as being the center of the rosin filled pine tree roots & they had been polished/hardened before used as the grave markers. (Hubert's father had been related to Julien by one of Julien's siblings).

Long ago it had a picket fence around it. I could only see the remnants of a broken barbed wire fence. The once house of Julian Young was said to have been about 200 yds. away from the cemetery, but no signs of the house could be found. The very small cemetery is on a small hill that is still covered by trees & shrubery. It has a large Chinkapin Oak tree on the western portion of the cemetery and shows no damage on it's bark that would indicate damage by weather, or fire. This big tree could be about 75 yrs old. The hill seemed somewhat higher than the surrounding area and not subject to flooding, and the stones show no signs of ever being ravaged by fire..... However, since Julien died before 1900 only causes me to think that his and his daughters' current stones do not show signs of being over 100 yrs old and would have been placed on the cemetery location long after the actual date of death by some of the decendants much later. It also causes me to believe that the two stones are not the original stones and are probably replacements.

It would seem to prove that everything mankind can create will only go back to the earth along with its keepers, and a memory can only live as long as the descendants can recall unless that memory can be supported by documentation that is made by those with an accurate memory....

This biography is incomplete & will be updated each time I get more factual information from my distant 'Young' relatives and their friends ...... In the mean time, I have placed the pictures of the three markers on the memorials for all to see. So please visit the memorials & the history they made for us.....

The information and the pictures that I've placed on the memorials will be the best preservation I'm able to give you as long as this web site is here.

Charles T. Baggett