Historic Site Saved!

Since moving to Kentucky, we've been concerned about saving endangered historic sites.  As with everywhere else, we have so many historic homes and other places that have been lost over the years.  I remember in Portland, Maine, when the old clock tower of the Union Station came down, and the station was destroyed to put up a strip mall.  At about the same time, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's birthplace was destroyed to put in a filling station.

Well, here in Boyle County, we have lost many homes.  One, a pre-Civil War mansion, was torn down to put up storage units.  Another pre-Civil War home owned by the namesake of the county was torn down because the new owners didn't want to deal with the issues of preservation -- it's easier to build new.

So, when the Boyle Landmarks Trust, dedicated to preserving our county landmarks, came to me last year and asked what African-American landmarks were in danger of being lost forever, I suggested Meadow Lane African American Cemetery, and did a write-up for their "Landmarks to Watch" brochure.

Since April of last year, a group of us have been working at that cemetery.  As work at the Shelby City African American Cemetery has slowed (we've nearly completed restoration there), Meadow Lane took over our interest and time.

The cemetery is probably the oldest identifiable African-American cemetery in the county, being established as early as 1830 by Lawson Moore, an early landowner.  We have traced several burials in Meadow Lane to the list of slaves that Lawson's son owned in 1860, and we have documented death records on at least one of them.

But the cemetery has been neglected and overgrown since at least the 1950s.  An effort by Centre College students and a professor about every other year for one day was about all that was being done.  And we all know what our lawns would look like if we only mowed them once every two years.

Well, through our efforts, and again, Centre College students, Meadow Lane has been saved.  We had it surveyed, and today, 18 January 2019, we recorded the survey and the plat with the County Clerk's office.

There is more to do, but Meadow Lane will not be lost.  We've seen to that.