Vittitoe Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Samuel and Ellen Vittitoe came to Grayson County in 1852 and put down roots on the land surrounding what would become one of the county's most enduring pieces of ground. They started a family burial plot right there on their property.

Simple enough. But the first soul believed to rest in that ground was their own son, Frank, gone sometime before the Civil War broke out. His headstone carries no date, so the exact moment is lost to time.

What remains is the fact of it. A son. A family plot.

And the quiet beginning of something larger than the Vittitoes could have known. Now, the family didn't keep the gate closed. Word got out to the folks in Kentucky Town, just a mile to the north, that the Vittitoe plot was open for burials beyond the family.

Neighborly as that was, the cemetery didn't become an official public burial ground until 1885, when it was legally established as such. That's more than three decades of goodwill before the paperwork caught up. More than 700 graves have been recorded in Vittitoe Cemetery.

Most carry tombstones with inscriptions you can still read today. Others, though, are marked by nothing more than a stake driven into the earth, or a piece of stone or rock set just so. Simple markers for lives fully lived.

Among those buried here is Andrew Thomas, who had brought his family to this part of Grayson County all the way back in 1837, making him one of the earliest settlers the ground holds. Civil War veterans rest here too, more than a few of them. There's the Reverend Isaac Teague, pastor of the Kentucky Town Baptist Church during the early 1900s.

And Benjamin Earnest, who helped establish a general store shortly after settling in Kentucky Town in 1859. The Vittitoe Cemetery Association tends the grounds today, keeping faith with Samuel and Ellen's original gesture. Over 700 graves.

Some with names you can read clear as day. Some with nothing but a stone. All of them part of what this corner of Grayson County was, and how it remembered its own.

What the marker says

This graveyard was begun as a family burial plot by Samuel and Ellen Vittitoe, who settled on land surrounding this site in 1852. Their son, Frank, probably was the first to be buried here sometime before the outbreak of the Civil War, although his headstone is undated. The Vittitoes made it known to the residents of Kentucky Town (1 mi. N) that their plot was open for burials outside the family, but the cemetery was not used as a public burial ground until it was legally established as such in 1885. More than 700 graves have been recorded in the Vittitoe Cemetery. Most of them bear tombstones with legible inscriptions, but others are marked only by stakes or pieces of stone or rock. Included among those buried here are early settlers such as Andrew Thomas, who brought his family to the area in 1837; numerous Civil War veterans; the Rev. Isaac Teague, pastor of the Kentucky Town Baptist Church during the early 1900s; and Benjamin Earnest, who helped establish a general store soon after settling in Kentucky Town in 1859. Vittitoe Cemetery, which is cared for by the Vittitoe Cemetery Association, is an important reminder of the early history of this part of Grayson County.