Union Hill Presbyterian Church and Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. Settlement in this area began in the early 1850s; folks putting down roots in Johnson County, carving out lives from the land. By the 1870s, Union Hill had grown into something.

Still small, still rural, but a genuine community, built on the backs of families working cotton fields from sunup to sundown. That's the kind of place where you know your neighbors not because you chose to, but because you need to. Now, a community like that eventually reaches a point where it needs something more than a cotton crop.

It needs a congregation. And in 1879, that's exactly what it got. The Reverend J.

S. Davenport organized a Presbyterian congregation right here at Union Hill. The very next year, 1880, they raised a one-room church building on this very site.

One room. Everything they had, and everything they needed. Then comes 1882, and a deed changes hands.

W. P. and Miley Johnson deeded five acres here to the church trustees: T. E.

Wilshire, C. G. Witherspoon, and J.

L. Shipley, for church and cemetery purposes. Five acres.

Room enough to worship, and room enough to rest. The cemetery didn't wait long. The first recorded burial was Margaret Beatty, laid to rest on February 4th, 1883.

And after Margaret, others followed across the years; area pioneers, their descendants, and several veterans of the Civil War. That ground holds a long memory. The congregation kept building.

A tabernacle went up in 1925. Then in 1938, the graveyard was improved with something that feels just right for a place like this: a fence with an arched gateway. A proper entrance for a proper place of rest.

By 1983 a cemetery association had been formed, and in 1992 a new tabernacle was constructed. This community never stopped tending what it built. But here's the thing that really sticks with me.

Way back in the 1890s, this congregation started two gatherings: a Christmas Eve program on December 24th, and a picnic every June. Started in the 1890s. Still happening.

Still traditional annual events. Whatever storms rolled through in between, whatever the decades took away, those two days on the calendar held firm. The church and cemetery, the marker says, continue to provide spiritual guidance and burial sites for the community.

And I reckon when something's been at it since 1879, you take that word (continue) seriously.

What the marker says

Settlement in this area began in the early 1850s. By the 1870s Union Hill had developed into a small rural community of families primarily engaged in cotton farming. In 1879 a presbyterian congregation was organized in Union Hill through the efforts of the Rev. J. S. Davenport. The congregation erected a one-room church building at this site in 1880. In 1882 W. P. and Miley Johnson deeded five acres here to Union Hill Church trustees T. E. Wilshire, C. G. Witherspoon, and J. L. Shipley for church and cemetery purposes. The first recorded burial was that of Margaret Beatty on February 4, 1883. Among those buried here are area pioneers and their descendants and several veterans of the Civil War. A tabernacle was built in 1925 and in 1938 the graveyard was improved with the building of a fence with an arched gateway. A cemetery association was formed in 1983 and in 1992 a new tabernacle was constructed. Gatherings on December 24th for a Christmas Eve program and in June for a picnic are two special activities initiated by the congregation in the 1890s which have become traditional annual events. The church and cemetery continue to provide spiritual guidance and burial sites for the community.