Bennett Cemetery Preservation Portfolio
“Our community, its history, and its people are important.”
This project is my philanthropic gift, as a professional historian, to the next generation.
I envisioned Bennett Cemetery as a “Memory Park.” Bennett is a special place to gather, reflect, heal,
and celebrate old memories while making new ones.
Installation of the New Bennett Sign (2020)
Click Photos Below
Completed Installations
3 Tier Black Granite Sign
Black Aluminum Fence: North Entrance
Bennett Cottage: (Seeking volunteer labor for phase 2)
Antique Church Bell: Donated by Suzie Crittenden-Chambers
Praying Angel: 5 feet tall and installed inside Bennett Cottage
Upgraded Rogers Family Plot: 8 graves completed
Bennett Cemetery Rehabilitation:
Rehabilitating the main entrance, gathering shelter, and many plots of this pre-statehood cemetery has been a personal and professional responsibility. Personally, it felt as though this project had become my calling. To beautify the ancestral grounds of Bennett is a gift of gratitude to those resting here as much as it is a gift of community to future generations.
Professionally, I am pleased to have initiated, designed, financed, and overseen all aspects of the project. It has been an extensive undertaking. All phases of this project are respectfully brought before Leo Smithson, the Chair of the Warner Memorial and Bennett Cemetery Association. Prior to Mr. Smithson's passing he wrote a letter giving me ongoing permission to continue with future upgrades. I hold the letter and his believe in me dear.
To be clear, no modifications should take place at any cemetery without consulting with its cemetery association. Leo Smithson managed Bennett Cemetery since the 1990s. His daughter, Cindy, now fulfills her father's role.
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I am an academically trained social, cultural, and public historian. My grandparents stressed the importance for Indigenous and rural people to pursue formal education and to give back to the community. I have honored my grandparents by earning several university degrees including a master's and doctorate.
The new Bennett Cemetery sign carries the name of my paternal grandfather's great grandparents, Missouri Ann and Joseph Rogers. Joseph is the son of Cherokee parents Mahala and Edley Rogers. The Rogers are multi-racial Indigenous people who trace through all levels of American history. The origin of the Rogers surname in the United States and our direct Euro-ancestry descends from Thomas Rogers, the 18th signatory to the Mayflower Compact. Thomas was a signer of the Mayflower Compact, while the ship was at the Provincetown Harbor, on November 11, 1620. Thomas Rogers perished in Plymouth during the first winter due to sickness.
My paternal grandmother, Katherine, and my great grandmother, in addition to many elders of my childhood permanently influenced my morals, values, and goals. They taught me the importance of taking care of graves and the importance of taking care of the memories that must be shared.
Renewing Bennett is my way of renewing my dedication to those resting here. I believe they are waiting for us to remember them and connect them to the next generations.
Beautifying Bennett is one way to restore important connections that can strengthen families and communities. I hope to see gatherings at "Bennett Memory Park" grow to include school groups learning about local history. Cemeteries are parks for memorial gatherings, family and church cookouts.
The new Bennett Cottage (shelter) is an inviting place to sit and watch a county sunset. It is place for all ages to gather for coffee and talk about the earlier days. Picnicking was a popular activity in cemeteries not so long ago when time moved more slowly, days were longer, and people enjoyed reminiscing about those who paved the way before them.
Let us continue these traditions and begin new ones.