John & Lucy Ferguson Cemetery

Locality: Roanoke County                  Temporal Period:                  4^th quarter 19^th c., 20^th c.

Realty Map:          96.03-2-18.1                           Cultural Affiliation:              Euro-American

USGS Map:           Bent Mountain                     Landform:                              Ridge bench

Grid Locus:            H-8                                          Elevation:                              1440 feet

UTM Easting:       584580                                    Aspect:                                  Flat

UTM Northing:    4115530

Site Dimensions:                  60.74 by  41 by 50 by 60 by 73 feet

Survey Description:  Site consists of a small family cemetery with at least 17 interments.  Four graves were marked with modern, inscribed headstones, 12 graves were marked with cement bricks, and one unmarked grave was observed as a depression on the ground surface.  Other interments may be present.  Site is well maintained and is not enclosed by any fence.  Site is covered with grass, and historic plantings include an oak tree, boxwoods, and periwinkle ground cover.  Cemetery is one of three situated side by side.  Abe Cemetery and Smallwood Cemetery are located to the immediate northwest.  Site size was derived from local realty maps.  Site was field inspected, photographed, and headstone inscriptions were transcribed and compared to previous site documentation.

Survey Date:         4/98

Field Notes:           x Yes    No

Photographs:        x Yes     No

Reference(s):         Roanoke Valley Historical Society

                                1986        Roanoke County Graveyards Through 1920.  Privately printed, RVHS, Roanoke.

Additional Comments:  Assigned temporal period was based on death dates inscribed on observed headstones.  However, the presence of uninscribed markers and at least one grave without a marker may indicate an earlier use of the site.  Cemetery is not marked on the USGS Bent Mountain map sheet.  It is marked on local realty maps and labeled “Ferguson Cemetery.”

This cemetery and the adjacent Abe Cemetery were surveyed by the RVHS and documented as a single cemetery referred to as the “Ferguson-Abe Cemetery” (1986: 116).  According to Charles Abe, the John & Lucy Ferguson Cemetery, the Abe Cemetery, and the Smallwood Cemetery are three separate cemeteries established adjacent to one anther.   The Abe and Smallwood cemeteries are to the immediate northwest of the John & Lucy Ferguson cemetery.

Marker Inscriptions:

John W. Ferguson                               Lucy Zirkle                                                            Ferguson

Mar. 26, 1856                                         Wife of                                                   Mary E.                  Jerry S.

Nov. 14, 1893                                        John Ferguson                                     July 24, 1897          Oct. 26, 1886

There is resting in                                Jan. 4, 1856                                            Mar. 2, 1974           Aug. 14, 1953

Heaven.                                                 July 31, 1926

                                                                Only sleeping.