2022 Park Day Recap

Snow, sun, rain, and a forgotten cemetery - quite the time for our third American Battlefield Trust Park Day! About twenty hardy folks, armed with boots, gloves, chainsaws, weed eaters, and brush cutters, endured the ever changing weather to help make the Coburn-Baker Cemetery come back to life, so to speak. We had folks from Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia in attendance, including the fifth great grand daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Casper Bowman, who is buried in the cemetery.

Last year we tackled the massive honeysuckle growth that blocked the view into the cemetery from Kentucky 19. Many Bracken County residents have told us they had no idea there was a cemetery in that patch of woods on the west side of the road, and clearing the front and the interior of the cemetery in 2021 made a visual impact…one could see stones from the road once again.

This year we worked on clearing out the growth that had sprung up since last year, as well as clearing the northern and southern property lines of honeysuckle. We also removed a lot of grapevine, downed branches, and dead trees. The cemetery looks amazing compared to my first visit in 2020 where I had to push my way through honeysuckle entanglements just to get into the cemetery proper.

Next work day we will tackle the back, or western, property line, remove more dead trees, and perhaps start the process of resetting some of the toppled stones. Future plans may include signage, a flagpole, and perhaps we can find someone to donate some gravel for a pulloff. We also plan to to try create a plat map showing all the known burials.

There are two Revolutionary War veterans buried in the cemetery, and one Union and most likely one Confederate soldier as well. The property was part of the Civil War era Mary Coburn farm.

Thanks to all who came and helped make Coburn-Baker Cemetery accessible once again!