ROBERTA NEE ADAMSStaff Writer

Society member John Parkes gave a presentation to members of the Moore County Historical and Genealogical Society at the March meeting about the old Bethel Cemetery. The cemetery, now over 200 years old, was one of the first two public graveyards in Moore County, the Pioneer Cemetery being the other.

Thomas Hart Roundtree, one of the first settlers in the county, sold one acre of his land to trustees of the Bethel Church Baptists for $1.00 Dec 4, 1813. The church was built shortly thereafter, and the cemetery followed.

In 1818, Roundtree established the town of Lynchburg, and the following year built a log house where Miss Mary Bobo’s now stands. He laid out plans for the town and sold lots beginning in 1819. In 1820 he built a cotton mill and a tavern. Then in 1821 he petitioned the state to officially establish the town of Lynchburg, in what was then Lincoln County. He passed away in 1828 at the age of 50.

Some of the confirmed buried there include Thomas Hart Roundtree and wife Mary Gilbert Roundtree, though there are no gravestones for them. Andrew W. Walker, wife Elizabeth Walker, and their daughter Mary Walker Anthony are buried there as well. The Walkers were one of the first families of Lynchburg. The Walker house was built in 1808.

Andrew Walker was a teacher in his early career, and went on to become the second post master of Lynchburg after the post office was built in 1820. Walker built the oldest known log cabin in (the future) Lynchburg in 1808.

A testament to those times is inscribed on the known tombstones. Life spans were considerably shorter then, with only Andrew Walker and Mary Hart living beyond seventy years. The number if infant and young children’s graves is sobering. Not many made it to a “ripe old age.”

The last services were held in the church in 1900. By 1909, almost 100 years after being built, the building was dilapidated and the cemetery unkempt. The property was sold to fence the cemetery, with remaining funds going to area Baptist churches. The building was subsequently torn down and the cemetery fell further into neglect.

Now well over 200 years old, the cemetery is hardly recognizable. In February of 2024 Benton Smith, along with members of the Historical Society, mapped the cemetery. Using liDAR, or ground-penetrating radar, Smith located a number of unmarked and unknown graves. Most of the known graves have no headstones. With the graveyard being on a hill, many of the markers were washed downhill over the years, most of them having no inscription. They lie piled near the foot of the hill.

The Historical and Genealogical Society is working to identify as many of the graves as they can. They plan to put plaques by known graves with information about who is buried there. Those that cannot be identified will have “Unknown” plaques. Considering the history and heritage represented there it is a worthy undertaking, even 200 years later.