Harmony Methodist Church and Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, friends, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere out in Hopkins County, there's a place called Harmony, and the name carries more weight than you might think at first. It started, as so many things out here did, with a single person deciding something ought to exist.

That person was Jesse Odom, a local landowner, and back in 1877 he tracked down an itinerant preacher and persuaded him to hold a revival for the settlers in this area. It worked well enough that they did it again in 1878. Two years of campfire faith, and a congregation took shape.

By 1879, that congregation was organized, a sanctuary was erected right here on one acre of land that Mr. Odom donated himself. The Reverend S.

W. Jones stepped in as the first pastor. Now that is a foundation.

That same year, on an adjacent tract of land donated by Henry P. Barron, a cemetery was established alongside the church. Henry P.

Barron donated the ground, and not long after, in 1880, he became the earliest recorded burial in it. That is one of those facts that settles over you quiet, like a long shadow at sundown. Now here is where the marker offers something you don't always get from carved stone.

According to local tradition, it was the aura of goodwill and harmony during the construction of that very first sanctuary that found its way into the name. Harmony Methodist Church. Harmony Cemetery.

The feeling of the building became the name of the place. Hold that thought, because the story that follows asks something of you. Jim and Henrietta Atkins donated an acre of land to the cemetery in 1891.

They are listed in this marker not for land alone, but as the parents of seven children, seven children under the age of four, all buried here between 1882 and 1898. The marker states it plainly, and so will I, because this ground held those families through grief that doesn't have a bottom. The congregation kept going.

In 1912, the Reverend W. B. Martin deeded land to the church.

Will C. Hill donated an acre to the cemetery in 1914. And in 1916, the congregation replaced its original church building with a new sanctuary.

They built again in 1951, the last sanctuary they would erect on this ground. The church was dissolved in 1963. In 1968 the Harmony Church building and the land were sold to the Harmony Cemetery Foundation.

And the foundation, to this day, continues to maintain the cemetery. That aura of goodwill that settlers felt while raising those first walls in 1879, it turns out it had some staying power.

What the marker says

Local landowner Jesse Odom persuaded an itinerant preacher to hold a revival for settlers in this area in 1877 and again in 1878. A congregation was organized and in 1879 a sanctuary was erected here on one acre of land donated by Mr. Odom. The Rev. S. W. Jones served as first pastor. A cemetery also was established that year on an adjacent tract of land donated by Henry P. Barron. The 1880 interment of Mr. Barron is the earliest recorded burial here. According to local tradition it was the aura of goodwill and harmony during the construction of the sanctuary that was expressed in the naming of the church and cemetery. In 1891 Jim and Henrietta Atkins (the parents of seven children under the age of 4 buried here between 1882 and 1898) donated an acre of land to the cemetery. In 1912 the Rev. W. B. Martin deeded land to the church. Will C. Hill donated an acre to the cemetery in 1914 and in 1916 the congregation replaced its original church building with a new sanctuary. The congregation erected its last sanctuary here in 1951. The church was dissolved in 1963 and in 1968 the Harmony Church building and land were sold to the Harmony Cemetery Foundation. The foundation continues to maintain the cemetery.