Earlier in the summer, I saw a path near our house which seemed to lead into some fields. This isn’t the most normal place to see a walking path; I put it on my list of places to check out at some point this summer. On Sunday, Choppy and I set out to see where this path led.

Our potential surprise at what we would find at the end of the path was ruined quite quickly; an informational board at the start of the path informed us of what we would be seeing at the end of the walking path: the old Potter’s Field for the county where we live (Jefferson County).

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A “potter’s field” is a burial ground for unknown or indigent people. As noted on the above sign, records indicate 52 people were buried in the Jefferson County Potter’s Field, but only 34 of the grave sites remain apparent in the field itself. These burials date to 1913 and before; there are other locations in the city where the poor and indigent were buried at other times.

Now knowing what we would find at the end of the walking path, Choppy and I set off on the hilly walk to the cemetery.

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The walk was rather short; I would guess 1/3 of a mile at most, and probably closer to 1/4 of a mile.

The entrance to the cemetery was marked by a stone, which (per the signage) had been erected in recent years.

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Small headstones marked the graves of the individuals buried here. A few trees around the outside of the small cemetery provided shade, with several trees planted recently that will one day shade these graves even more.

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I can’t say this was what I expected on this walk, but it was certainly interesting to learn how close we live to this little bit of our small county and town’s history.