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Cemetery Association Launches Fundraising Site
The McKee/Big Spring Cemetery Association has launched a Go Fund Me campaign to expediate funding for improvements at the cemetery. Funds will be used to identify and map the number buried, unmarked graves, and buried headstones.
Geomodel Inc. of Leesburg will assist by using ground penetrating radar. The company has extensive experience with cemeteries in Virginia and North Carolina, and utilizing their mapping, a local land surveyor will develop a map of identified burial sites.
Until recently the cemetery was in complete disrepair with only a couple of intact stones still visible. Volunteers came together to create a new non- profit, held numerous work days to clean up the cemetery, and develop a permanent plan for the maintenance of the cemetery. With assistance from staff and students at Washington and Lee University’s geology department a preliminary assessment indicated numerous unmarked burials exist.
The historic cemetery located in Kerrs Creek is the final resting place of many of the earliest settlers in this region. These settlers ‒ whose names include McKee, Cunningham, Telford, Hamilton, Moore, McAlister, McCown, Gilmore, Dunlap, Lam and many others ‒ came to the Kerrs Creek area when it was the farthest western edge of the frontier. Many of these early settlers, and their descendants, fought in the French and Indian Wars, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War “This is our first step to restore cemetery,” said Pauline McKee, chair of the newly organized cemetery association. “Our goal is to discover how many are actually buried there, and restore as many headstones as possible.” This week donations have been received from as far away as Arizona, Colorado and Missouri.
Recently William “Mick” Mckee Trevey and his children traveled from Wisconsin to uncover his family roots in Lexington. He and his children visited the grave of James Logan McKee, his fourth great-grandfather who is buried at the McKee/Big Springs Cemetery and owned Big Spring Farm. Trevey sent a $750 donation to support efforts to restore the cemetery.
To make a donation go to the Go Fund me page at https://gofund.me89d365dd or mail a check to Pauline McKee c/o McKee/Big Springs Cemetery Association 1837 Back Creek Court, Asheboro, N.C. 27205.
If you need more information or would like to volunteer contact Pauline McKee at [email protected] or call (336) 328-5507.
ABOVE, William “Mick” Mckee Trevey and his family recently traveled from Wisconsin to the Rockbridge area and visited the McKee/Big Spring Cemetery. He and his daughters Grace, Caroline and Anna are pictured here at the grave of James Logan McKee, Trevey’s fourth great-grandfather. AT LEFT, these are the graves of the Dunlap family buried in the McKee/Big Spring Cemetery, portions of which can be seen from the road. New technology has been developed that can be used to explore subterranean areas of the cemetery.
