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On Tuesday there wasn't much we had time to do while out on the plains, since it was a very long drive back. Our target for a quick wander (which conveniently took us past the derailed train we'd wanted a better look at) was the France-Harker Cemetery, listed on the Kiowa County Library site as one of Kiowa county's "lost cemeteries" that they were trying to preserve.
Their directions were... not great.
They were mostly correct, and did take us down the correct zigzag of unpaved county roads, but faltered at the last step. The directions say 3/4 of a mile... it was actually closer to two miles? Two miles isn't that far, but it's significantly farther than 3/4 of a mile, and we u-turned a couple times thinking we must have missed it, trying to track exactly how far we were going. Finally we just shrugged and decided to keep going, and yup. Just a lot farther than advertised.
It's not a large cemetery.
The informative blurb on the library site says it has 21 grave sites, with 10 preserved headstones. The earliest known grave is for Frank Chilson, who died in 1895, and the latest known is Charlie V. France, who died in 1942.
One of the prettiest headstones. "Mattie V., wife of James D. Gordon."
Blanket flowers, on the way in.
Another pretty headstone, matching the one above, though they have different flowers carved at the top. "James W. Gordon, son of Mattie V and Jas D Gordon."
Paints a sad picture together. Mattie, the woman whose headstone I have above the cut, died just a couple weeks after her son James was born. He lived to just shy of six months.
Another child's grave. "Emma Elizabeth, daughter of D.W. and Mary C. France."
And her parents:
"D.W. France."
"Mary C. France."
"Charlie V. France." This is the last known burial in the cemetery. Though it appears that Lydia (presumably his wife) was intended to be buried here, but wasn't. That always makes me wonder what happened.
There are several of these metal crosses, I assume marking the 11 grave sites that there are not surviving headstones for.
Look at those prickly pear spikes!
Some very impressive spiderwebs in a prickly pear. Quite a protected spot to be!
"Suda, wife of E.J. Henery."
"Chester J., son of E.J. and Suda Henery." (This is the same stone as Suda's, just a different side of the marker.) (Sorry I didn't get my shadow out of the shot.)
"Joseph Kesler."
The oldest known burial in the cemetery. "Frank B. Chilson."
On both our way in and the way back out... COWS.
So many cows on the road! Bella was not sure about this, though she calmed down pretty quick from "deeply concerned" to "simply interested."
I like the one with grass hanging out of her mouth, ha.
Several calves, a few cows that looked very pregnant.
Cute white face.
It was nice that we had a chance to at least do something else before heading home, since it's certainly not an area we travel through very often. It was a good weekend in general. We don't often have the chance to go do overnight trips anywhere, but this definitely needed to be; way too far to head out and back in the same day. I'm glad we finally got to go to Sand Creek, tragedy though it is.
Their directions were... not great.
They were mostly correct, and did take us down the correct zigzag of unpaved county roads, but faltered at the last step. The directions say 3/4 of a mile... it was actually closer to two miles? Two miles isn't that far, but it's significantly farther than 3/4 of a mile, and we u-turned a couple times thinking we must have missed it, trying to track exactly how far we were going. Finally we just shrugged and decided to keep going, and yup. Just a lot farther than advertised.
It's not a large cemetery.
The informative blurb on the library site says it has 21 grave sites, with 10 preserved headstones. The earliest known grave is for Frank Chilson, who died in 1895, and the latest known is Charlie V. France, who died in 1942.
One of the prettiest headstones. "Mattie V., wife of James D. Gordon."
Twelve more pictures:
Blanket flowers, on the way in.
Another pretty headstone, matching the one above, though they have different flowers carved at the top. "James W. Gordon, son of Mattie V and Jas D Gordon."
Paints a sad picture together. Mattie, the woman whose headstone I have above the cut, died just a couple weeks after her son James was born. He lived to just shy of six months.
Another child's grave. "Emma Elizabeth, daughter of D.W. and Mary C. France."
And her parents:
"D.W. France."
"Mary C. France."
"Charlie V. France." This is the last known burial in the cemetery. Though it appears that Lydia (presumably his wife) was intended to be buried here, but wasn't. That always makes me wonder what happened.
There are several of these metal crosses, I assume marking the 11 grave sites that there are not surviving headstones for.
Look at those prickly pear spikes!
Some very impressive spiderwebs in a prickly pear. Quite a protected spot to be!
"Suda, wife of E.J. Henery."
"Chester J., son of E.J. and Suda Henery." (This is the same stone as Suda's, just a different side of the marker.) (Sorry I didn't get my shadow out of the shot.)
"Joseph Kesler."
The oldest known burial in the cemetery. "Frank B. Chilson."
On both our way in and the way back out... COWS.
So many cows on the road! Bella was not sure about this, though she calmed down pretty quick from "deeply concerned" to "simply interested."
Three more pictures of cows:
I like the one with grass hanging out of her mouth, ha.
Several calves, a few cows that looked very pregnant.
Cute white face.
It was nice that we had a chance to at least do something else before heading home, since it's certainly not an area we travel through very often. It was a good weekend in general. We don't often have the chance to go do overnight trips anywhere, but this definitely needed to be; way too far to head out and back in the same day. I'm glad we finally got to go to Sand Creek, tragedy though it is.
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