The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

 

(Left) A view of the rear of the cemetery looking toward Route AA taken in September of 2014 shows nature encroaching and taking over the graves. In the photo on the right, taken in July of 2015, improvements by volunteers have made a definite impact in restoring the historic cemetery. (Photos by Dale Johnson)

 

Published July 22, 2015

County turns historic cemetery over to historical society

By Dale Johnson
CAMDEN COUNTY – The county commissioners voted last week to sign over a historic lake area cemetery to the Camden County Historical Society.

The cemetery, which is being referred to as “Roach Cemetery”, has a long history with the lake area but had fallen into neglect over the years.

The graves are part of the history of the county and came from various cemeteries that were moved for the flooding of the area once Bagnell Dam was completed.

Most of the graves came from Lower Prairie Hollow but many others from various cemeteries also found a final resting place in Roach. A total of 286 bodies were moved by Union Electric (UE) but many more have joined the ground since then.

With the flooding of the area on the horizon, UE purchased the Roach property in 1930 and paid for the relocation of the graves.

In 1933 UE deeded the property, located off Route AA a short distance from Highway 54, over to Camden County but that’s when the ownership of the cemetery got fuzzy.

Once the fuzziness was cleared up and the county was still the owners of the cemetery, the commissioners handed it over to the historical society for the sum of “one dollar and other considerations” as the Quit Claim deed stated.

1st District Commissioner Beverly Thomas made the motion on the Quit Claim deed with 2nd District Commissioner Cliff Luber seconding the motion.

For the past several months volunteers have been cleaning up the cemetery and erasing the signs of neglect.

Over the decades the cemetery has fallen into ruin, with grass growing over fallen and broken tombstones, trees taking over areas where graves are and many others unmarked and disappearing.

With the continuing help of volunteers and donors, the historical society will keep the cemetery in good shape, to honor the many familiar names at rest there; names such as Moulder, Williams, Parrack, Webb and Banner.

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