Post by Graveyardbride on Jun 6, 2017 15:31:31 GMT -5
The Mysterious Tomb in Cedar Grove Cemetery
SALEM, Mo. – Anyone driving eastbound along Highway 32/72 has no doubt caught a quick glimpse of the only monument in Cedar Grove Cemetery. The stone and sod edifice stands just west of the main entrance and can be seen from the roadway and by Sonic customers across the street. For generations, the tomb has stood vigilant against time, but why it was built and the identity of the people who lie within are mysteries to most.
City clerk Mary Happel knows the tomb’s oral history. She says according to local legend, it was built by a mourning husband to shelter his young, beautiful wife because he couldn’t stand the thought of her being underground. Some versions of the tale even claim locals viewed her body in the crypt well after her passing and she remained beautiful long after death. The legend is alluring, but is it true?
An inscription on the monument indicates it is the resting place of Edwin N. Pendergrass, who lived from Oct. 22, 1845, to April 22, 1907. The epitaph simply reads: “Gone Spiritually.”
Not much is known about Pendergrass. At the time of his death in 1907, no obituary was published in The Salem Democrat-Bulletin. One of the only insights is provided by Margaret Vickery in her article, “Graveyard Workings Unique to the Ozarks,” published in The Salem News, in which she writes: “There are many interesting stones and shafts in Cedar Grove, and one that causes the most interest is perhaps the vault at the entranceway to the cemetery. This stone vault was built by John Pendergrass to hold the remains of his young wife. (She remained in it many years and was taken out later and buried.) Near the vault is an urn marker with the name of Pendergrass.”
Another clue is a “Woodmen of the World” insignia beside the name Pendergrass. The Woodmen of the World was a fraternal organization created by Joseph Cullen Root in 1883. Salem was home to the Modern Woodmen of America Post No. 3897, which, at one point, met twice a month in the Odd Fellows Hall. The organization was created after Root heard the pastor preach a parable about pioneer woodmen clearing away forests to build homes, communities and security for their families. He subsequently dedicated the organization to providing families financial security and one of its enduring legacies was an early policy that included a gravestone with the purchase of life insurance. The Woodmen stopped providing gravestones in the 1920s because the policy becoming too expensive. Salem’s Cedar Grove monument may well be ample evidence of the policy’s excess. The tomb is several feet long and wide with an iconic arching stone visage and a metal door in the western wall. The roof is made of sod and now boasts a dense growth of grass and clover. In terms of age, the monument is confirmed to be more than a century old.
Happel reports that, to her knowledge, no one living has been inside the and what’s inside is a mystery. The city does not possess a key to its door and the Pendergrass descendants – if there are any – have not been in contact with Cedar Grove officials. The only Pendergrass profiled in Ken Fiebelman’s Ozark heritage books is George Washington Pendergrass, who lived from 1819 to 1891. The book documents G. W. Pendergrass moved to Salem around 1848 and bought purchased property fronting on Fourth Street, extending to Washington Street, and bounded by Third Street. A log cabin used as a hospital during the Civil War was once located on the site. Following Pendergrass’s death, his daughter, Grace Pendergrass, built the grand three-story City Hotel on the land and operated it for years before it was purchased by Jim Butler after the First World War. Fiebelman does not directly connect Edwin N. Pendergrass to George Washington Pendergrass, but the profile does say the latter is buried in Cedar Grove along with his children.
Based on the accessible historical information, evidence indicates a man named Pendergrass was able to erect the Cedar Grove monument through a “Woodmen of the World” life insurance policy and had his wife buried therein. He was interred in the structure some years later. The two were then reportedly removed and buried near the monument.
The extent of Mrs. Pendergrass’s beauty, and indeed her very name, may never be known. It’s likely that whatever lies within the old tomb will forever remain a mystery.
Source: Andrew Sheeley, The Salem News, June 6, 2017.