Scott Cemetery, March 25, 2012

I wish I could find more information about the African American Community that existed in Weldon Springs in the 1800's. What remains is the site of a school and two cemeteries where over 42 slaves are said to be buried. This metal Muschany Mortuary marker denotes one of the graves. The Scotts were an African American family who owned the land at one time. . . . This location is just off the old road, but entirely peaceful. I saw no one, just a profusion of flowers and blue sky.

This rope branch reminded me of Alice Walker's short story "Flowers", especially since over 42 slaves are buried in the McRoberts and Scott Cemeteries.

The old farm pond on the Scott property: dog woods blooming all around

As an aside: there was a Mountain Biking Race on March 25 at the Lost Valley Trail. The trail was still open, so it was o.k. to hike, but I had to pretty much hike alongside the trail until I got to the old road leading to the McRoberts and Scott Cemeteries.

In the above photo on the right, you can see a tripod set up along the trail. It was set with a trip mechanism so that a photograph of every biker was taken when he/she passed. In the creek, just a few feet from this tripod was a live photographer who would snap photos of bikers as just as they rode through a creek and made a dangerousturn on slick rocks. He would yell encouraging words about how they could make it, but then yell "nevermind" when almost all of them fell. In between yells, he would somtimes cough. Presumably he was hired to take promotional photographs. . . . . .