Dickens Cemetery

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm followin' the official marker for Dickens Cemetery, and this one's worth every mile of road to get here. Now settle in. Some stories start with a birth.

This one starts with a burial. The year was 1891, the same year the town of Dickens itself was founded, and a woman named Mrs. C.

F. Jones, wife of pioneer settler and town barber C. F.

Jones, passed away. Her husband buried her at the foot of a hill overlooking the Croton Breaks. Just one grave, out on the open land, with the breaks stretching out below.

That could have been the whole story, a lone marker on a hill and nothing more. But that's not how Dickens does things. The man who owned that property, a fellow named M.

S. Crow, took counsel from his attorney, W. C.

Ballard. And Ballard had an idea. Crow donated five acres of land surrounding that grave site so the whole community would have a place to rest.

Five acres built around one woman's grave. Now, W. C.

Ballard, the attorney behind that suggestion, was considered by many to be the Father of Dickens. He died in 1913, and he was buried here, too, in the very ground his own advice had set aside. You can't write that kind of ending on purpose.

Over the years, the cemetery filled with early settlers, city and county officials, and veterans. Veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Generation after generation, conflict after conflict, all of them finding their way back to this hill above the Croton Breaks.

The land itself kept growin to meet the need. Additional donations through the years pushed the boundaries outward. A fence went up in 1919.

Then in 1948, local citizens formed a cemetery association to care for the grounds and the monuments. Today the Dickens Cemetery encompasses more than eighteen acres, all of it grown from those original five, all of it grown from one grave a barber dug for his wife in the founding year of a brand new town. The marker calls it a reflection of area history.

I'd say that's about right. Every name in that ground is a chapter, and the hill above the Croton Breaks has been keepin the pages ever since 1891.

What the marker says

The only cemetery to serve the town of Dickens. This graveyard began in 1891, the same year the town was founded. Mrs. C. F. Jones, wife of pioneer settler and town barber C. F. Jones, died in 1891 and was buried by her husband at the foot of a hill overlooking the Croton Breaks. The owner of the property, M. S. Crow, at the suggestion of his attorney, W. C. Ballard, donated five acres of land surrounding the grave site for a community cemetery. W. C. Ballard, considered by many to be the "Father of Dickens," died in 1913 and was buried here, as well. Many early settlers, city and county officials are interred in this graveyard. Also buried here are veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Through the years, the site of the Dickens Cemetery has increased through additional land donations. A fence was erected in 1919, and in 1948 local citizens formed a cemetery association to care for the grounds and monuments. Now, encompassing more than eighteen acres, the cemetery serves as a reflection of area history. 1994