Essay Sample about Pioneer Cemetery

As we were driving down a mountain road, one day, we visited an old graveyard. We know this cemetery today as “Pioneer Cemetery”. A photograph of a family is displayed on a historical marker, near the entrance. I wondered who that family was, and what had happened to them. Upon research, I soon realized I couldn’t just tell their story; I needed to tell the whole story. Although the only visible remnant is a cemetery with unreadable tombstones, it was here that forty families lived their lives.

In the southwestern corner of Perry County, between Blue mountain and Bower’s Mountain, is a deserted town. The valley is small, about 10-12 miles long and a mile wide. The terrain is very rocky. A creek named Laurel Run flows straight through it. 

The Diehl family was the first to buy acreage in the valley. Daniel Diehl purchased a 300-acre parcel of land in the Valley and called it “Pandemonium”. Samuel Diehl then bought the 105 acres adjoining Daniel’s plot. Samuel’s property is the location of “Pioneer Cemetery”. (1)

John and Christian Henry moved to the Valley in 1789. They gave the valley the name “Henry’s Valley”. John was an outstanding bear hunter among the early settlers. He was the one to construct the first house in the Valley. He carried the lumber for it on his back, over the mountain from Cumberland County. (2) 

Christian Henry was one of the original workers at Ahl’s Steam Tannery. He settled there with his wife and children. He and his wife are both buried in Pioneer Cemetery. Christian was a leading individual in the Henry’s Valley congregation. 

They built the Cold Spring Schoolhouse before the Civil War. They used it as both a school and a church. Christian Henry led the services for many years (2). Once in a while, Reverend I.J. Stine, Reverend P. Williard, or Reverend J. Evans arrived to preach for the families. Reverend J. Evans afterward established the Henry’s Valley Lutheran Church (3). In 1859, Reverend John T. Williams visited the Valley once every four weeks. They formed a congregation on November 24, 1860, with 24 joined members. In 1880, Reverend Diehl, of Bloserville, preached in the Valley once every four weeks. During those weeks of absence, the settlers would travel 10 to 12 miles over the mountains to attend church. 

The school once had 42 pupils enrolled and had many schoolteachers. The names of the teachers that were recorded were: Mr. Wellen (1857), James Shannon (1877), J.S. Roddy (1880), John Bryner (1891), Luther Henry (1896), Miles Shuman (1897), John A. Snyder (1900), N.F. Stroup (1903), Mark Bower (1904), Elmer Stambaugh (1905), Clyde C. Kern (1909), John F. Harkins (1911), and Leslie Shumaker (1912). In 1913, the school closed, since there were no more students in the Valley (4). They then sold the schoolhouse for $35 in 1914 (5).

There were quite a lot of sawmills in the Valley. We know that these included: A.N. Caldwell’s Sawmill, W. Shaeffer’s Sawmill, Phonix Sawmill, and W. Lightner’s Sawmill. There were many sawmill shanties throughout the Valley for seasonal workers. W. Shaeffer’s Sawmill almost burned to the ground in February 1904 and they moved it in November of the same year to Shaeffer’s Valley. W. Lightner’s Sawmill was still operating in 1939. There was also Ahl’s Steam Tannery, which ran from 1840 to 1890. L.J. MacFarland built the tannery in 1840 and then sold it to James Marshall. James Marshall owned the Tannery for quite some time. He did all his business with Newville. The Cumberland Valley Railroad carried all the leather that was produced (6). Marshall then sold it to Samuel Lupfer. The last owners were the Ahl brothers, from Newville, who ran it until 1890. The house at the tannery burned down in March 1893. Daniel Neidigh had lived in it, and the Carlisle Sportsmen liked to stay there. 

Although one misleading newspaper article from 1880 stated that a family living near Ahl’s Tannery subsisted on a diet of roots and bugs (7), the fact was that everyone was pretty well fed. The game was plentiful. Mr. John Lay was a great hunter (8). Also, the trout in Laurel Run was plentiful. One group of men caught 118 trout, in 1892 (9). An article from 1920 stated that the brook trout were “speckled beauties” in the stream (10). 

In December 1882, there was a murder in the Valley. James Hasel was out hunting and never returned home. Nobody knows the cause of his death, but it is supposed that his jealous friend murdered him. They discovered James lying on the ground with his head on a rock, his arms crossed over his chest, and his hat drawn over his eyes. They found his loaded gun sitting against a nearby tree. (11)

Health wasn’t very good in the Valley, due to lack of medical treatment. Because wild animals were so plentiful, people had to be careful of the snakes, bears, and catamounts. A bear attacked William B. Neidig in 1901, which he beat off with a club (12). Rattlesnake bites were an issue, as well. James Bitner, was trying to kill a copperhead snake and accidentally put his thumb in the mouth of another snake that he didn’t see (13). Also, despite what we might think, poor mental health was an issue back then. One man, John H. Lay, was paralyzed from a stroke, and felt very depressed about his condition. So, he decided to end his life. They recorded the tale in the newspaper :

“John H. Lay, of Henry’s Valley… He fastened a loaded gun to two chairs, having the muzzle pointed toward the lounge on which he then placed himself in position to receive the weapon’s contents. With a string attached to the trigger, he discharged the gun, but the contents entered the lounge just beneath his shoulder. The gun’s report brought members of his family to the scene in a hurry. Having failed in his purpose with the gun, he secured a butcher knife and attempted to cut his throat, but again, his family intervened. He then got a rope and attempted to hang himself, but with the same result. It is thought he had become temporarily deranged.” (14)

Forest fires and house fires were also prominent in the Valley. Many barns and houses burned down because of them. Fire destroyed the house at Ahl’s Tannery. Also, there was an account of a 75-foot long barn that was also burned to the ground (15). Mr. Henry Sweitzer, a german peddler, got caught in one such forest fire. He was old and nearly blind, but he made his rounds in Henrys Valley because the residents bought things from him. In April 1906 (16), he came to the Valley to peddle his goods. When he had finished, he made his way up Bowers Mountain. Meanwhile, there was a forest fire going on. He got confused because of the smoke and ended up falling off Horsehead Rocks, which is a formation of rocks on the side of Bowers Mountain. Someone found his bag laying on the rocks and went looking for him. Henry was found three days later. He had crawled down the mountain and into the fire, had burned his foot and boot, and was lying at the bottom of the mountain. The residents helped him. They later took him to the Perry County Poorhouse and died on June 2, from his burns. 

State Ranger Frank P Sundy, his wife Elizabeth, and his daughter Helen came to the Valley in 1907. Frank came to enforce game laws. When they arrived, there were only ten families still living there. Pierce Sundy, Frank’s nephew, attended Cold Spring School. Once he graduated, the school closed. Frank then bought the schoolhouse (5). Pierce ended up enlisting in the National Guard, and fought during World War I (17).

By 1920, only the Sundy’s lived in the Valley. Nature had already begun taking over the cemetery. Frank held cemetery cleaning gatherings each year, so that they could keep it clean (18). The Sundy’s would leave the Valley for the winter, because they were the only residents left. Frank died on November 22, 1924, at 55 years of age (19). He had been a forest ranger in Henrys Valley for 14 years.

The C.C.C. Camp arrived in the 1930s. The boys put in a majority of the roads that now lead through and around the Valley. On August 20, 1934 (20), a bulldozer accidentally hit eighteen-year-old Harry F. Hamerski. The group was working on clearing a fire road, when the fatal accident happened. Harry had lied down on the road to take a nap. The bulldozer had recently gone down that road, and unbeknown to Harry, was heading back the same way it had gone. They buried him in Latrobe, but they erected a monument in a spot known as Dead Man’s Curve, on Bower’s Mountain Road. Also that same year, two cases of scarlet fever developed in the Camp, though none of them were fatal (21).

We had jokingly stated that maybe we had a relative that lived in the Valley, and it turns out we did! We found the tie through Amanda M. (Miller) Garlin, who was born in 1895. She grew up in the Valley on her father’s farm. Her husband, Miles Garlin, is related to me, through my dad’s side! (22)

As for the picture of that family; we discovered something very amazing! Frank Sundy’s daughter, Helen, later met and married Clyde Menges. It so happened that they owned the farm that is next to our property. Before they put our house on this land, it was farmland that belonged to the Menges’. Our neighbor, Joe Menges, is the Great Grandson of Helen Sundy. 

We have made many trips to visit Henry’s Valley and have climbed through the same woods that were once home to forty families. Each time I have tried to imagine what life was like in that little valley those many years ago. Even though only pieces of rubble show where houses used to be, and unreadable tombstones mark the lives of those who lived there, Henry’s Valley still has a legacy. And that legacy should never be forgotten.