Eighteenth-Century Field Trip Part 3: Yorktown Baptist Church

The third and final stop on our glamorous eighteenth-century church and cemetery tour was the Yorktown (or Hunterbrook) Baptist Church, now the Community Church of Yorktown. The original church was built in 1802. This building was moved down the road in 1848 in order to make room for a larger church on the same site, which is the one that still stands. According to the historical brochure we obtained at the church, the first church in its original position stood at a right angle to the church that is there today.


Assuming that that is correct, and that the original entrance to the church pointed out toward the road, then the old gravestones would have been located to the back and side of the church, pointing in the same direction as its entrance, as at St. Peter's Church.

Here are two gravestones that were not professionally done. The one on the left dates from 1752, and the right from 1777. I didn't notice when I took the photo that the letters on the stone on the left are not someone's initials, but an abbreviation of the name of Christ or Christogram (IHS). I don't know what the fourth letter is.

Here's a well-preserved sandstone with a winged cherub. I believe I read somewhere that the puffed-out cheeks of the cherub is supposed to represent the soul being blown out of the body.

This 1818 gravestone of a one-year-old child is surprisingly tall, perhaps four feet.

While it is later than the stones we are looking for, I took a picture of this stone because I was moved by the little lamb and the inscription: "Little Aaron and Aramenta." It also provides an example of how children were treated differently in the later nineteenth century as compared to the eighteenth. While before children were treated as miniature adults and accordingly were given the same gravestones as adults were, in later decades children were set apart and were commemorated with special stones. The lamb was the most popular motif for children's gravestones.

Not all of the old stones are as well-preserved, such as this one belonging to Ann Johnson.

Nor are all the stones easily accessible. On the far end of the cemetery, where the ground slopes down dramatically, quite a few stones have been swallowed up by the encroaching woods. Many of these stones belong to old family plots, still demarcated by iron fences. Laurie and I climbed up and down the hill to get a look at some of these stones.


Though this part of the cemetery has not been maintained in a long time, it's clear that someone has been here recently, as evinced by the police tape. Here's a forlorn rose stuck in a briar patch.


Gravestones weren't the only things we found in this area of the cemetery. This, believe it or not, is a car, and a fairly old one at that, judging by its shape.


Here's a view of the cemetery from the top of the hill (near the car):


And here is a view across the street. This is a great time of year to visit old buildings and graveyards. The foliage is beautiful, the air is cool and crisp, and old ruins are easier to see than in the summer. I think we gathered some good insights into the arrangement of eighteenth-century graveyards and I look forward to applying them in our continuing search for St. George's. Thanks to Laurie for driving and for the use of her camera!