Looking southwest this is part of the Nixon family memorials which make up most of the cemetery.
Looking west this is a photo of part of the Nixon family memorials.
Looking north this is a photo of part of the Nixon family memorials. That hedge in the upper left corner of the photo contains the memorial of James V. Gray.
It was told to me that this Nixon family is related to former President Richard Nixon. Mr. Hickman who showed me this cemetery said that several people came up from Texas years ago and visited this cemetery and related that information to him . If true the chances of a close connection are rare due to the prevalence of the surname Nixon around the south.
Also from this photo in the distance is the black cemetery. It is a very new cemetery or there is a prevalence of old unmarked graves. My suspicion is that the black cemetery was utilized prior to the civil war as a slave graveyard and afterward continued to be used. That is a historical hunch and I am not sure, but this Nixon family was active here during the slavery years and may have brought black people here. Slavery did also include white people in early times, but whites generally had an easier time getting their independence for some reason.
This is the box tomb area of the Briggs & Kittrell family. As stated in other places these memorials are all fallen and many of the parts of the box tombs are buried underground. It is a major undertaking to restore these tombs. Heavy equipment will be needed along with extra building products to prop up the broken parts. The tops are too heavy to be glued and need to be supported by blocks. Generally box tombs have a top, four or eight sides, and a bottom which covered the grave. Older ones used rough cut stone to support the top. Rarely did the tomb include burial above ground. Some of the ones that fell were repaired by removing the top and filling with box with soil and resetting the top. That makes them appear as though there is a burial inside the box.
Photo and information by Wayne Austin 25 Sep 2008.
