The Williams Cemetery is located on Baxter CR 43 East of Gamaliel. From State Highway 101 in Gamaliel, take Baxter CR 43 to the East about 4 ½ miles. On the right, you will come to a telephone company remote juncture box with a small pull off. This cemetery is located in the wooded section immediately adjacent to the telephone company box. The cemetery is fenced on all sides, and there is a rusted gate. This cemetery was completely abandoned for decades and overgrown with briars, fallen limbs, and general overgrowth. It was easy to overlook when driving by, particularly when there was full foliage. It has now been cleaned up by county jail inmates, and a new sign was erected. Many of the stones were found lying on the ground. There are at least three above ground vaults. The cemetery dates from the mid 1800's, with the most recent burial occurring in 1920. The earliest burial according to marked headstones was in 1864. There are many graves marked only with upright field stones. Some of them undoubtedly pre-date 1864.
I remember looking for this old cemetery twice before I actually found it. It was so terribly overgrown, you could be standing on the county road in front of it and not realize it was there. I finally spotted the top of the tallest tombstone sticking up through the brush. Ken Grayham, Sr. told me he stumbled across it when running a tractor on property adjoining the cemetery back in the late 1950's, and it was in the same condition then. When the inmates were cleaning it up, a couple of people living in the area also referred to it as the old "Moon Cemetery", as there are members of the Moon family buried there.
The new sign for the Williams Cemetery
Example of overgrown condition
Another example of overgrown condition
Jail Inmates at work clearing
Clean up work is almost complete
Williams Cemetery as it appeared in May, 2011
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