"

_~xx~ ___ MULTiPlE RESOURCE ___ xx ____ THEMATIC NOfJIINATION

HISTORIC Pilgrim Reformed Church Cemetery

LOCATION STREET lie NUMBER N side of SR 1843, 0.25 mi. SW of jct. with SR 1841

CITY, TOWN

Lexington STATE

CATEGOftY

_DISTRICT

_BUILDING(S)

_STRUCTURE

X SITE

_OBJECT

OWNERSHIP

_PUBLIC

~PRIVATE _BOTH

xx

PUBLIC ACQUISITION

_IN PROCESS

_BEING CONSIDERED

N/A

R OF PROPERTY

VICINITY OF

CODE 037

STATUS

~OCCUPIED _UNOCCUPIED

_WORK IN PROGRESS

ACCESSIBLE __ YES. RESTRICTED

~ YES UNRESTRICTED

_NO

NAME Pilgrim Reformed United Church of Christ

STREET lie NUMBER

City Lake Road CITY, TOWN

Lexington _ VICINITY OF

DLOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION

_NOT FOR PUBLICATION

CONGRESSIONAL D'~TR'CT

CO,-!NTY CODE 057

PRESENT USE

---AGRICULTURE _MUSEUM

_COMMERCIAL _PARK

_EDUCATIONAL _PRIVA TE RESIDENCE

_ENTERTAINMENT _RELIGIOUS

_GOVERNMENT _SCIENTIFIC

_INDUSTRIAL __ TRANSPORTATION

_MILITARY :>LOTHER Cemetery

telephone: 704-249-1051 STATE

North Carolina 27292

COURT.HOUSE. Register of Deeds Office, Lexington County Courthouse REGISTRY OF DEEDS. ETC

STREET &. NUMBER

Lexington Nor

NAME / TITLE

Ruth Little, Consultant

Survey and Planning Branch July 26, 1983 STRHT .. NUMBER TELEPHONE

Division of Archives and His

x'GOOO

.!.fAIR

The cemetery of Pilgrim Reformed Church contains approximately 350 gravestones, of which some 150 are of local stone and local craftsmanship. The congregation had access to all of the major stonecutters in the county, and contains examples of all seven of the significant II schools" of gravestones. The finest group of gravestones in the cemetery are thirteen attributed to David Sowers. Sowers belonged to this church until

. he left the county in 1835, and three of these gravestones are for the Sauer (Sowers) family, perhaps his kin. These gravestones and a few others are cut from a dark gray, dense, shiny stone which resembles slate, and may have been quarried nearby. It is quite different from the more porous, lighter gray soapstone used in the "Pierced Style" gravestones and most of the other local stone gravestones. Not until about 1850 do professional marble gravestones begin to appear in this cemetery. The fol­lowing gravestones, grouped by schools, are the most significant monuments:

Early Phase

Berrier Cadarena Ebethall illegible illegible Nicholas Michael P. Y. Wooldrick Frits Valentein Leonhart Katy Younts Casper Brinkle Ellis Kenoy

David Sowers

Polley Frit Adam Hetrich Caderina Sauer Daniel Sauer Henry Dorr George Spricker Barbara Zinck Susana Conrad Emanuel Sowers Henry Conrad Mary Lopp Phelip Cink Peter Lapp

Swisegood School

Elizabeth Leonard ? Leonard

Barbara Headrick Joteph Ler Voentin Leonard

1829 1829 1789 1791 1837 1838 1781

1718-1781 -1838 -1839

1799-1850

1812-1812 1741-1815 1816-1816

1816 1816 1818

1780-1816 1798-1823 1830-1833 1762-1834 1768- ? 1755-1829 1760-1827

? 1758-1835 1750-1832 1820-1823 1731-1814

semicircular lunette with sunburst semicircular tympanum with sunburst simple geometric shape--German Gothic script simple geometric shape--German Gothic script simple geometric shape monogrammed semicircular tympanum semicircular monogrammed tympanum semicircular monogrammed tympanum simple geometric shape simple geometric shape incised floral ornament

Pilgrim Reformed Church Cemetery Continuation sheet 7

Pierced Tradition

Sarah Green Mary Hedrich Benjamin Yonts

Attr. to John Rickard

Luallen Fritts Elizabeth Leonard Madison Leonard Eve Conrad Adam Leonard E1enor Olin John Fritts

Modern Master

Daniel Leonard Mary M. Brink1e

183?-1842 1790-1833 1797-1845

1819-1846 1818-1842 1832-1848 1792-1849 1832-1852 1825-1855 1813-1854

1789-1848 1781-1846

One of earliest professional marble stones

Eli Fritts 1832-1850

Item number 1

derivative Pierced Tradition derivative Pierced Tradition semicircular lunette with sunburst semicircular tympanum with sunburst semicircular tympanum with sunburst derivative Pierced Tradition derivative Pierced Tradition

urn-and-wi11ow style "Classical" style

__ XX= __ NATIONAl STATE

PERIOD AREAS Of SJ~NIF1CANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW

_PREHISTORIC

_1400-1499

__ 1500-1599

_1600-1699

-ARCHEOLOGY·'REHISTORIC _COMMUNITY PLANNING _LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

X_ 1 700·1 799

~18oo·'899

_1900-

-ARCHEOLOGY·HISTORIC

-AGRICUl TURE

-ARCHITECTURE

~RT _COMMERCE

_COMMUNICATIONS

SPECIFIC DATES Various

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

_CONSERVATION _LAW

_ECONOMICS _LITERA TURE

_EDUCATION _MllITARV

_ENGINEERING _MUSIC

_EXPLORA TION/SETTLE M E NT _PHILOSOPHV

_'NDUSTRV _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT

--,NVENTION

STONECUTTERS: unknown

LOCAL

_REliGION

_SCIENCE

}LSCULPTURE

_SOCIAUHUMANITARIAN

_THEATER

_TRANSPORTATION

_OTHER (SPECIFY)

Pilgrim Reformed Church, the earliest Lutheran congregation in Davidson County, dates to about 1757 when the first record book was begun. Some years ago a gravestone with a 1761 death date was visible, but the oldest inscribed gravestone presently visible is dated 1781. One of the earliest members was Philip Sauer, who emigrated from Palatine Germany to Pennsylvania in 1749 and came to the Pilgrim community in 1753. Another early settler was Adam Conrad, who came to Pilgrim about 1763. Adam's father Johann Georg Conrath Sr. had emigrated from Pfalz, Germany to Pennsylvania in 1737. 1

Footnote

lSink and Matthews, Pathfinders Past and Present: A History of Davidson County, North Carolina, 18-20; monuments erected by descendants in Pilgrim Cemetery.

CRITERIA ASSESSMENT

A,C Derives primary signifJcance from the unique collection of folk gravestones by local stonecutters erected here in the late eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries. These highly decorative soapstone gravestones with folk symbols for resurrection and eternity represent the height of folk art accom­plishment within the craft community of the Anglo-German farmers of north Davidson County.

Contains almost all known gravestones attributed to master stonecutter David Sowers, cut between about 1815 and 1835 in a highly decorative "Fraktur Style."

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IIMAJOR BIBUOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Sink, M. Jewell and Matthews, Mary Green. Pathfinders Past and Present: A History of Davidson County, North Carolina. (High Point, N.C.: Hall Printing Company, 1972.)

ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY Approx. 3 acres uru REFERENCES

A~ 1517,01 6, 5L q 13. ~ 6, ) ~ 9, q ZONE EASTING NORTHING

cW 11.1 I I I I , I, I r L I VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION

BW I I ,! ZONE EASTIN

I I I I I NORTHING

oW I I I I I I I I , I

The cemetery boundaries include an area of roughly 3 acres with the approximate dimensions of 400 feet by 200 feet by 200 feet by 200 feet by 300 feet in a polygonal-configuration as shown on the u.s. Geological Survey map, Lexington East, N.C. Quadrangle.

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