There are about 54 cemeteries in the Williams Creek Basin. These cemeteries range in size from only one or two graves on family property, to about 1000 graves, as at Coalton Cemetery. This article explains and links to a map, and other important information, with photographs, of all the known cemeteries in the Williams Creek Basin.
Each cemetery listing also has some general information about that specific place. Most also have a few photographs accessed by clicking on a link at the bottom of the cemetery data, so click on that link to see the nice images. The photographs are general photographs of these cemeteries; it is not an attempt to photograph every grave in that cemetery. I have personally visited all but a few of these cemeteries and personally snapped these photographs. I have been collecting this data since 2014.
This purpose of this map and guide is principally to accurately show where these cemeteries are located with an exact GPS point. This GPS location is the primary aspect of this map information. Land owners change, roads change, access points change, but an accurate GPS value will allow these cemeteries to be found long term despite inevitable changes.
Note this is a large map with lots of cemeteries close to each other, so it is far better to view this map on a computer, not a cell phone. Basic function on a cell phone is far clunkier as you have to toggle between the map points and the legend. This makes it much harder to understand the information. On a computer the map points and the legend can be viewed on the same screen.
To use “The Cemeteries Of The Williams Creek Basin: Map And Guide” below just click the rectangle in the top right on the map below (the rectangle with the arrow on image top left gives you an alphabetical listing of the cemeteries):
The images for the cemeteries can be easily viewed by clicking on a link at the bottom of each cemetery listing.
Here is a sample image from The Berry Cemetery on Norton Branch.
These cemeteries are in both Boyd and Carter Counties, with one being partially in Greenup County.
The Boyd County Public Library (BCPL) has additional database information, including who is buried in some of these cemeteries located in Boyd County. But, note there are several cemeteries in Boyd County, in the Williams Creek Basin area, that are not included in the BCPL data, but are included in this map and guide.
Reviewing the BCPL’s information is what prompted me to create this guide. There are two different resources at the BCPL. Links to these BCPL resources are listed near the end of this article.
A BCPL database helps you determine in which cemetery a person of interest is buried. A different BCPL location guide lists general information about the actual cemeteries, where it is located, sometimes with a GPS location, and directions on how to get to the specific cemetery. I found in many cases there was no GPS location for many cemeteries, or the cited GPS location was just incorrect. In addition, the directions on how to find and access some of these cemeteries are now often dated. Roads change, property ownership changes, access points change, but an accurate GPS location of the cemetery will not change with time.
For the many cemeteries in the Williams Creek Basin in Carter County, no such databases exist. So the information from this Williams Creek Basin Cemeteries: Map And Guide may be especially helpful.
I have determined an accurate GPS location for virtually all of the cemeteries in the Williams Creek Basin. Individuals can look at the location of the cemetery on the Google based map, and this can help them decide on a good approach to accessing that cemetery. The few cemeteries where the GPS location is not exact are specifically noted in the guide, and also listed just below, to be sure you are aware of the limitations of these few.
Cemeteries without an exact GPS location:
- Don Moore Cemetery on Moore Branch – the GPS for this cemetery should be pretty close.
- Graveyard Hollow Cemetery – this cemetery has not yet been located.
- Reynold’s Infant(s) Graves – the exact location of these grave(s) have not been located but the cited GPS should be reasonably close.
- Rucker Cemetery at Mile Branch – these graves have not been located, but the cited GPS is likely in the general area of these graves.
- Vance Baby Grave in Buena Vista – the location and associated GPS is from a narrative of two longtime Buena Vista residents very familiar with this grave site. The GPS should be close. There is some possibility local logging activity may have obscured the grave location.
Click on the two lines below to access the cemetery information at the Boyd County Public Library:
- “Boyd Cemetery Search”, a database to help find where individuals are buried.
- “Boyd County, Kentucky, Cemeteries Location Guide”, a guide to help locate cemeteries
I would like to thank the Jerry Burton (1928 – 2023), Ginny Meade Kegley, Don Moore, Bob Meade, Linda Newman, Christina Fowler Montgomery, Joyce Gillum Thomas, and Wayne Thomas for their kind and focused help.
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