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FRIENDS OF
SPRINGHILL
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Historic
Memorial Garden |
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NEWS
UPDATE SNAPSHOT |
Photo Gallery
In February 2011, we installed
a metal sign/gate designed by Memphis College of Art (former NWCC) student
Brandon Parker and built by the Northwest Welding and Cutting department.
A bike rack designed by Drafting and Design Tech freshman Carl A. Street
and built by Welding and Cutting is coming soon. We also had a great
week for tree and ornamental planting, debris removal and trail clearing.
The city will be providing
a water tap and trash cans, and mows regularly during the summer. The
Parks Department has lost many employees due to budget cuts so your
help with maintenance is critical.
The city has a grant to install
a sidewalk along Church Street to provide a safe walking route to the
Middle School. This will form the east border of the playing/parking
area, where we plan an Asian Ornamental Garden.
Regularly Scheduled Workdays
2nd Saturday morning
3rd Sunday afternoon
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JOIN |
Stay informed
about future events promoting the conservation and restoration of Hernando's
first cemetery and be included on the Friends of Springhill Historic Memorial
Garden Trust. |
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DONATE |
Join Friends of
Springhill to Become a Sponsor or Volunteer. Public gardens always need
financial contributions, But we also need donations of materials. |
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EVENTS |
Check Upcoming
Events!
Peek in on events we
have enjoyed in the past.
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HISTORY |
Springhill Cemetery
was established in 1836, with the founding of Desoto County... |
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PRESERVATION |
Preserving our
culture is not only important to us now, but is as important for generations
to come. You will be impressed with the plan we have for preserving this
piece of our heritage. |
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GARDEN |
Friends of Sprighill
has plans for a Botanic collection at Springhill Cemetery. Our emphasis
is on returning the site to a native habitat. |
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FRIENDS OF
SPRINGHILL
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MEMORIALS |
John Piland Robinson
and Cynthia James Sledge Robinson, and Simon Boliver Robinson, Amanda
Lauderdale Robinson, Jack and Sarah Bethune... |
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LINKS |
Links you can
use to explore the history of Desoto County, Archaeology & Cultural
Studies, Genealogical Society of Desoto County, along with many more. |
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Historic Memorial Garden
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Why
Save Springhill as an Historic Memorial Garden?
As the population of Desoto county is growing rapidly, and is expected to
continue to grow, there is an ever-increasing need for public green space.
It would be much better to preserve this historic site as parkland near the
center of Hernando now than to have to buy land for parks later. Springhill
lies along a proposed pedestrian and bike route. There are young woods, grass
and a few old trees on the lot now, and kudzu control has begun. The cemetery
about 90% nineteenth century markers, with very few after 1900. As such, it
is probably eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and for
designation as a Mississippi Landmark.
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PLANNING
FOR A HISTORIC MEMORIAL GARDEN |
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Springhill
Cemetery lies on a high, wooded, ridge two blocks southwest of the Hernando
courthouse. The town of Hernando lies on a topographic high in the Coldwater
River basin of northwestern Mississippi, on the dividing ridge between Hurricane
Creek to the north, Mussacuna Creek to the south and Short Fork Creek to the
east. All are direct tributaries of the Coldwater River. The cemetery is gullied
and surrounded by cutbanks and ravines. While the location is eroded and gullied
loess, but on the ridgetop there is dark rich soil like once covered the North
Central Hills of Mississippi. |
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Springhill
Cemetery was established as a donation, as shown on the plat of the original
grid of Hernando (in the Chancery Clerk's office), from 1836, when the new town,
then called Jefferson, was platted. Hernando is the first and only seat as of
Desoto County, created shortly after the Chickasaw Cession at the 1832 Treaty
of Pontotoc. The family groups of graves, two or three to eight or ten in rows
aligned north-south and facing east. Provision of a public burial ground at
the outskirts of towns was a major movement in Victorian urban planning; and
still provided a burial site alternative after church, plantation and isolated
family cemeteries came into building. Besides grazing for town cows, a nineteenth
century town's graveyard was also an open space for strolling and contemplation.
Springhill was used primarily in the antebellum period, with some later 19th
and 20th century interments. After the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 almost
destroyed the town, few families still used it. The core of the cemetery contains
numerous examples of high-quality but often damaged stonework; however, the
cemetery also is highly likely to contain hundreds of unmarked nineteenth century
graves. Many cemeteries had annual days for visiting and cleaning graves, and
in the late nineteenth century community contributions kept it fenced. But as
families died out or moved on, the cemetery was largely abandoned by 1900, and
it fell into neglect and eventually was used as a cattle pasture and woodlot. |
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Springhill Cemetery is located
along the south boundary of Section 13, Township 2 South, Range 8 West of
the Chickasaw Principal Meridian, in the southwest quarter of said Section
13, or at latitude N 34 degrees, 48 minutes, 57 seconds, longitude W 90 degrees,
00 minutes, 03 seconds. The elevation is about 360’ above sea level
while the surrounding creek valleys lie at about 240’ amsl. The site
is steeply sloping loess surrounding a partly grassy and partly hardwood-covered
ridgetop, with an unusual light, soft, dark brown loam. There are sunny, sloping
south and east cutbanks; a flat, street-side parking/sports area; a north
slope deep gully, and several wooded flats and hillsides besides the main,
grassy ridge top where the historic gravestones are.
Evergreens, particularly cedar,
holly and magnolia, are traditional features of old Southern cemeteries. We
have begun replacing cedar stumps with cedar seedlings. We plan to focus our
gardening efforts on such native trees and shrubs. While the location is mostly
high and well-drained land that is dominated by hickories and small undergrowth,
it once supported a wider range of oaks as well. The soil is very unusual
for the loess hills, with a dark loamy topsoil like that the first farmers
found in the Chickasaw cession. There is a steep, deep, north-facing ravine
and a wet seep and drainage area, and cover ranges from south-facing, full-sun
slopes to heavy shade. While we plan to focus on planting native species,
we would also like to set aside particular areas for African and Asian gardens,
to demonstrate the introduction of many Old World plants during the 19th century.
Tree replacement should also emphasize those that provide sources of food
for birds and other wildlife, especially native nut and berry-bearing trees
and bushes, and flowering species attractive to bees and other beneficial
insects.
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