TAYLOR-PENDLETON FAMILY CEMETERY

Located midway between Route 17 (Tidewater Trail) and the Rappahannock River and between Route 617 (Fortune Lane) and old Hazelwood Avenue. The cemetery is on right side of the gate on a knoll in a clump of tress. There is a Virginia State Historical Marker on Routs 17 to mark the location. The original house known as "Hazelwood" was the home of John Taylor of Caroline, one Caroline's most prestigious sons. His writings are studied in universities throughout the United States and in many foreign countries. John Taylor purchased Hazelwood about 1786 after his retirement from the Virginia Legislature, and it was here that he conducted many of his agricultural experiments which he and Thomas Jefferson exchanged. It was also here that he authored and published one of his books, "Arator." which was published in 1803. This was one of the first books written on agriculture in this country. The original house at Hazelwood burned after 1922 and another house occupies the site which is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. James Richard Garrett. John Taylor died at Hazelwood in 1824. His grave remained unmarked until 1946 when the State of Virginia placed a small stone to mark his resting place. The cemetery measures approximately 30 by 60 feet and is enclosed by an iron fence, some of which has now fallen down. At the northwest corner is the monument to the memory of John Taylor. George Taylor's will, dated 1872 and St. Anne's Parish Register (Vauter's) both attest to the fact that John Taylor's wife Lucy Penn Taylor was also buried November 7, 1831 at Hazelwood; however, her grave remains unmarked. A letter written by Gay R. Bernard at nearby "Gaymont" also reaffirms the fact: "Old Mrs. Taylor's funeral obsequies were performed last week, all her children had collected there have now dispersed." and another from Mrs. John H. Bernard of Gaymont which reads in part: "The feelings of sorrow I allude to were on account of the sudden death of my excellent friend old Mrs. Taylor. She was taken suddenly ill at her son William's (at nearby Hayfield) and expired Thursday night the 2nd of her attack."

At Hazelwood Lies
John Taylor of Caroline
Political Leader
May 17. 1754 - Aug. 21, 1824
Virginia Conservation Commission, 1946

Colonel John Taylor and his wife Lucy Penn had two daughters who died young. and a son, James, who died in 1806 and very probably were burled at Hazelwood, although, no record exists to prove this. His son Edmund who died in the summer of 1820 and his wife Elizabeth Hord, daughter of Thomas Hord of "Liberty Hill," may also have been burled here as could another son the Hon. William P . Taylor of "Hayfield" and his wife Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Bernard Moore of "Chelsea," King William County. Since no record exits of burial sites elsewhere for these family members and since the cemetery is large enough to accommodate these additional graves, it is entirely possible they also are at Hazelwood Cemetery.

Herbert Ridgeway Collins, 1932, Cemeteries of Caroline Co., VA, (Westminster, MD, Family Line Publications, 1994)