August 2016

Standard Cemetery #1 was used as a burial ground for over a century, with headstones dating from as early as 1840. It is located on private property near where Bells Chapel Road crosses headwaters of West Fork Creek. There is no driveway and parking is limited to the road's shoulder.

The cemetery itself is slightly higher than the surrounding terrain which was a soybean field this summer. Towering cedars and other mature trees form a continuous canopy overhead. Pawpaws and other understory vegetation have overgrown the entire burial ground. Vinca and other vines completely obscure many of the smaller stones. With the exception of an iron fence surrounding one grave, there is no fencing. Animal trails cris-cross through the undergrowth. The majority of the stones are broken or fallen. Weathering and moss make reading of the carvings difficult. Many more headstones exist than are transcribed and photographed here. The most recent interment appears to have been in 1940.

A comprehensive transcription of stones in this cemetery is available in the Todd County Public Library. The 1989 Todd County Cemetery Index lists it as follows; "181) STANDARD and many other names such as KENNEDY, MOBLEY, PETRIE....Land known as the 'Sally Standard place'. Mr. J.D. Gardner reports that it is not fenced, in bad condition, and 'some of Todd County's most illustrious citizens rest here'. (Copied by J.D. Gardner, visited by Amy Apperson Valentine, a direct descendant of the KENNEDY family, 1989; Frances T. Fox, and Earl R. Welborn, Jr. The land was the property of Billy Gillum at that time.) Mrs. Valentine discovered one more stone for a Harrison child."

Disambigulation:
Standard Cemetery #1 is not to be confused with Standard Cemetery #2 which is located along the south side of KY 1753 (36.751700, -87.185400) or "Unnamed Cemetery 182" in the Todd County Index described as located 'south of the Standard Place' possibly on H.A. Hampton land".