Scenics Archives

January 30, 2012January 30, 2012

Shady Grove Cemetery

Shady Grove Cemetery between Cape Girardeau and Dutchtown at the deadend of CR 211 is the final resting spot for more than 250 members of the area’s black community. It dates to before the Civil War. A reader pointed it out to me after I did a story on the Pecan Grove School, which is at the corner of Hwy 74 and CR 211.

When I went there about two years ago, it was in pretty ratty shape. When I returned with LaFern and Shari Stiver on a beautiful fall day in 2011, the land had been cleared. I hope careful note was made of where the tombstones were located because they had apparently been moved to make the clean-up easier. I did note red flags scattered here and there.

More information about Shady Grove

The Missourian ran a fairly long piece about the history of the cemetery in the June 25, 2008, edition.
The Find A Grave website lists 131 interments and has a map that shows where Shady Grove is located.
Diana Steele-Bryant and Sharon Sanders, librarian for The Southeast Missourian, have published a book, “Dark Woods and Periwinkle: A Glance Back at Shady Grove,” which documents 240 burials. It is available from the Cape Girardeau Genealogical Society web site.

Photo Gallery of Shady Grove Cemetery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

January 11, 2012June 24, 2016

Stoddard County Poor Farm Cemetery

Someone on Facebook asked about the County Farm Home that was located at what is now North County Park. I mentioned that I had taken a photo of the small monument “IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED IN OUT COUNTY FARM HOME” when I did a story about Memorial Park Cemetery on the other side of the highway.

Stoddard County Poor Farm Memorial

That reminded me that I had photographed the much more touching Stoddard County memorial across from the Bloomfield Missouri Veterans Cemetery and just down the road from the Stars and Stripes Museum and the Stoddard County Confederate Memorial.

Sanctuary of Peace

This memorial has been erected as a tribute to all those men, women and children who were laid to rest in the Stoddard County Poor Farm Cemetery in Bloomfield, Mo.

From circa 1860 to 1967, these individuals were buried in the Stoddard County Poor Farm Cemetery because society deemed them poor, medically or mentally unhealthy. This memorial stands as a permanent reminder of those named individuals and unknown souls. We now recognize these people as our beloved ancestors who were lost but now are found.

May this site serve as their final resting place and a sanctuary of peace.

Gallery of the known

Here are closeups of the names in the memorial. There was one old individual stone in the grove that indicated that a J.R. Barnett had died in 1933.

January 6, 2012January 6, 2012

No Leaf Loafers Here

OK, I kinda missed the season on this one, but you get ’em as I find ’em. This was on the same roll as the Atlas Plastic strikers, so it must have been taken in September of 1966.

This is what’s called “wild art” in the business. It’s a feature shot with no real news peg. I don’t think it ever ran, so I wasted a few minutes of time and three or four frames of film that were going to be processed anyway.

Following rules can make for dull photos

This photo breaks several of the normal snapshotter rules that say you should always have the sun at your back and never shoot into it. Those are good rules, but they also make for dull photos.

In this case, I let the foreground detail go dark, creating a partial silhouette effect. I was hoping that the backlighted smoke would separate the subjects from the background, which it did. I like the composition of the woman holding her rake down, while the boy on the left has his pitchfork up in the air.

I wish the boy with the cart had been half a step to the left, but the other elements were missing when HE was in the right spot. This wouldn’t be a good picture if you wanted to be able to identify the people in it, but it’s captures the feeling of raking and burning leaves in the late afternoon.

December 29, 2011March 16, 2016

Thebes Courthouse High on the Hill

Thebes, like Cairo, has been a place I always swing by on my way to or back from Cape. Like Cairo, there’s less and less there every time I visit. The floods have taken their toll over the years.

The one constant, though, is the Thebes Courthouse, sitting high on a hill overlooking what used to be a thriving river community. There’s plenty of historical information out there, so I’m not going to rehash it. Here’s a link to the official Thebes Courthouse website.

I’m just going to show you photographs of the courthouse taken between 1966 and 2011 (the black and white shots are from 1966). Some of the photos will look similar, but on closer examination, you’ll find they were shot in different seasons and different years.

Thebes Courthouse photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.