Resting place of town's founding families, a solider-comedian ... and a young boy

I'm sure few people enter the 8.5-acre Holly Springs Cemetery the way I did last week. Most people probably drive through the main vehicle access at Burt and Earp streets.

I arrived after a circuitous walk from downtown Holly Springs, starting with a stroll north on Raleigh Street to Earp Street, then headed west on Earp and continued after crossing Main Street, descending and ascending a dramatic hill and dip before coming upon the cemetery's northeast corner, still on the ascend about 100 yards shy of Earp's intersection with Burt.

The first thing that struck me about the cemetery at that northeast corner was the colorful blooms on the row of Wisteria trees that helped form the cemetery's eastern perimeter (see photo above).  I spent a moment capturing some pictures of that. Then I proceeded west up the hill on the grounds toward a point where the topography plateaus.

Heading back to town after my stop there, on that same hill, I came across the vista you see in the photo leading off the post. I had seen this tall obelisk while ascending the hill upon my arrive but making the composition you see here didn't occur to me until exiting the cemetery.

In fact, I was outside the fence -- on the grassy Earp Street shoulder -- and was well past the obelisk when I happened to turn back and glance a final time at the cemetery. That's when I saw the tall figure again ... and that extended tree branch, as if it were trying to reach out and touch the monument. I walked up to the fence and positioned the camera atop one of the gate top openings and tripped the shutter.

The website for Holly Springs Cemetery says that some of the town's founding families are buried in this cemetery. Among the first surnames that jumped out at me as I glanced at grave markers near the plateau were Collins and Mims. I don't know how many of those, if any, were "founding families." But I know that Collins and Mims are family names associated with people who lived in the historic Greek Revival Leslie-Alford-Mims house in downtown Holly Springs.

I also know that the home's original occupant, Archibald Leslie, opened a tailoring shop in the town, and that the house's second occupant, George Benton Alford, is credited with being among the founding individuals of Holly Springs. Alford's grandson H. Edwin Mims followed his grandfather as home occupant. I did not find Leslie or Alford's graves, but I wasn't actually out there to find them. There were parts of the cemetery I never made it to. I did, however, find the grave of H. Edwin Mims (see photo at right).

As always, to view a larger, sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. This is particularly helpful when accessing the blog from a mobile device. To see a full gallery of images taken in Holly Spring Cemetery, click on the link in this sentence.

Photo geek stuff: I did the entire shoot using my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens equipped with a polarizing filter. I made three exposures of each composition to meld into one image during post-processing using Photomatix high-dynamic range (HDR) software.

Above: Another plot for the Mims family, including a Collins family connection. 

Different perspective vistas, one looking northeast (above), featuring a marker in the foreground that might provide a possible "tell" about the origin of the Earp Street name; another looking southeast (below), which also provides a more expansive look at the background wisteria trees; and one looking northwest (second below).  

You don't see many picture of grave markers like the one above, so I photographed this rarity in the cemetery's newer section placed by the family of Lovie Ann York. I came across the markers of several soldiers during my stroll, and the reference to Haywood Hunter (below) being not just a father, friend and hero ... but also a comedian ... made me smile and wish I had known him. 

Also in the newer section were the marker for 7-year-old Davis Davenport (above) and 19-year-old Kristen Hunter (below). My newsman curiosity prompted me to hunt around on the Internet to see if I could find out what happened to them. I learned that Davis had been struck and killed by a vehicle backing out of his own driveway, I could not find a story for Kristen. 

Views of the cemetery from the south end of the main access road (above) and from Earp Street, looking southeast, at the main entrance. 

The cemetery's website stipulates that no structures other than markers are allowed on the grounds. I'm guessing this tiny sculpture atop one marker is permissible, and I can presume the restrictions were devised after the aforementioned obelisk was installed.

Above: The hilly Earp Street that I walked on my commute to the cemetery from downtown Holly Springs.

Next up: Churches in downtown Holly Springs

Previously in this series:

Carolina Brewing Company

Big development in downtown Holly Springs