TT2 - Grassy Creek, NC

Day two of the great Tombstone Tour II has come to a close. Our mission today was to return to Grassy Creek, NC and find my great-grandmother Spencer's grave site. It was the one place we were not able to locate last year. The big unanswered question was whether or not anyone had ever put up a grave marker for her.

This time out we enlisted the help of my mother's 2nd cousin, Evelyn "Maw" Barker, who still lives in the area. We got to meet her daughter Debby and (unfortunately for my feline fearing mother) Buster the cat. Once Buster was safely asleep in my lap, the conversation turned to family. We looked through Evelyn's photo albums, ate a sandwich in her kitchen and hit the road.

Evelyn had tracked the graveyard down to a Christmas tree farm in Grassy Creek. The hills in this part of North Carolina are covered by some of the most sought after fir trees on the east coast. Last year we passed by this one several times without realizing the graveyard we were looking for was right in the middle at the top of a hill.

After clearing it with the people we thought were the owners (they'd sold the land several years ago) we set out across the fields and a stream. The graveyard was at the top of a very steep, very long hill. We took it slow and stopped often, but everyone made it to the top in good shape.

The plot has not been tended in a very long time and is totally overgrown with blackberry and thorn bushes. A large tree once dominated the hilltop, but it fell over and buried many of the headstones several years ago. I decided to try a quick recon inside the fence and quickly determined Mom and Evelyn shouldn't try to come in. I found a path someone else had trampled through the underbrush and followed it as far as I could.

It was slow going, but eventually I began finding Spencer headstones. I snapped pictures as I went, calling out the names and dates as I found then. I was just about to give up finding my great-grandparents when I spotted two stones on the ground near the rotting old tree stump. I crawled carefully under a few brambles and found grandpa Troy.

After clearing away more thorny vines I found grandma Tish leaning precariously over her husband's fallen tombstone. I snapped a few pictures, confirmed that the year of her death was a year later than Mom thought and then began working my way back out. We headed carefully back down the hill to the car feeling pretty good.

We stopped at Evelyn's sister's house because she had a copy of my great-grandmother's obituary. That confirmed the date she died on and completed all the data Mom needed for the Spencer side of the family. We dropped Evelyn off at her house and headed back to base camp. We had diner with my uncle Phil and his wife Kay. Lots of great veggies and to top it all off, some of my uncle Phil's great chocolate cream pie. It was a good day!