Wednesday, March 7: Weldon Spring Conservation Area

Mades Cemetery

I was wrong about the TNT web site hikes being inaccurate. I finally found the right metal gate and large rocks described in the One Short Hike/Three Cemeteries hike. It is on the east side of 94--then you cross the road and go down a short hill to the bike path. Use your GPS to hike about .19 miles into the woods to find the Murdock Cemetery (696813 4283337). Although it wasn't far from the road, I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere because there is no path to follow. It was a warm (70 degrees) but windy and gray day--although the air seemed very still in the woods. Some of the headstones are gone, and according the TNT website, some of the bodies in this cemetery were disinterred. Reading that John Murdock was the son of a Revolutionary War veteran while looking at the cemetery really caused me to internalize the concept of how old these graves are (and also how short human life spans are). Although there are few grave markers and headstones left, daffodils still mark the places where tombstones must have been.

The original iron gate still surrounds the Mades Cemetery. This is the last on the hike, and the closest to the bike path, although it is not visible from the path. It is surrounded by trees but lies on the edge of a field.

Where a tombstone must have stood in the Murdock Cemetery

Murdock Cemetery

You can find the hikes at http://www.thetntstory.org/

Unfortunately, I left the camera at home and had to photograph using my cell phone.

Schneider Cemetery

The Schneider Cemetery (696707 4282968), like the Murdock Cemetery, feels like it's out in the middle of nowhere--especially on a gray day. The headstones date from the 1800's and are inscribed in German. According to the TNT web site, the farm was in the Schneider family for about 100 years before they sold it to the government during World War II.