Travel a long, inclined gravel road off Bethlehem Church Road to the top of the hill in the center of Moore County, and you’ll be taken back in time. From that high position, you’d see what early settlers did more than 200 years ago, with hardly a glimpse of modern life.
You’ve reached one of the highest points in the county, the Old Scotch Graveyard.
Some 47 simple, worn gravestones, with familiar names like Campbell, Seawell, Morrison and Tyson, await you. The earliest, that of Alexander Mcintosh, dates back to 1809. Some appear to be family plots, like the 7 graves marked with the name Stutts. Others are small and unmarked, presumably the last resting place of young children, reminding us how hard life was in the 1800’s.
The site is undergoing a restoration, as volunteers at the Moore County Historical Association, like my friend Dale Moeling (pictured), are in the midst of clearing brush, cutting branches and removing accumulated debris on the 2.5 acre plot.
Headstones, some of which have fallen over time and buried under leaves, are being placed upright again and wood chips have been spread across the cemetery, making it easier to walk among the graves.
The markings on the stones are simple and brief, without much more than a name, date of their death and age. They reflect their way of life, without the more modern adornments we see today.
The one stone that struck me was one for a person that was born on the Isle of Skye, in the highlands of Scotland. Just think of the journey, across the Atlantic to a new world, making their home in America.