Corinth Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Corinth Cemetery in Cass County. Now, some places earn their gravity quietly. No battles fought on the ground, no famous names carved above the gate.

Just four acres of Cass County earth, and the weight of everything a community carries across generations. Back in 1876, Ephraim and Mary Watson, Mary being born a Hartsfield, donated those four acres to the Corinth Baptist Church of Almira. Four acres.

Doesn't sound like much until you understand what gets planted in four acres over time. The earliest marked burial dates to 1878. A little girl named Terrissa L.

Ellington. Three months old. That's the first name the ground kept a record of, and you sit with that for a moment before moving on.

From there the years do what years do. Men went off to war, some came home, some didn't, and the ones who came home eventually came back to this ground for good. Veterans of the Civil War are buried here.

World War I. World War II. Korea.

Vietnam. Five wars, all of them folded into these four quiet acres outside Almira. The cemetery holds both marked and unmarked graves, and that detail matters.

The unmarked ones are still somebody's people. The marker calls this place a reflection of the heritage of this part of Cass County, and that's not ceremony talking. That's just the plain truth.

Come the start of the twenty-first century, Corinth Cemetery was still in use, still serving the communities of Almira, Carterville, Floyd Hill, and the surrounding country. Four acres donated in good faith in 1876, still doing their work. Some gifts outlast everything.

What the marker says

This historic graveyard is associated with the Corinth Baptist Church of Almira, to whom Ephraim and Mary (Hartsfield) Watson donated four acres of land in 1876. The earliest marked burial is that of three-month-old Terrissa L. Ellington, who died in 1878. Veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam are interred here. Containing both marked and unmarked graves, the cemetery is a reflection of the heritage of this part of Cass County. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Corinth Cemetery continued in use, serving the Almira, Carterville, Floyd Hill and surrounding communities. (2001)