Harshaw Chapel and Cemetery

Harshaw Chapel and Cemetery

Harshaw Chapel and Cemetery

–  Click on the image to enlarge or purchase  –

Harshaw Chapel and Cemetery

Harshaw Chapel and Cemetery is located at the junction of Church and Central Streets in Murphy, North Carolina.  It was built in 1869 by Joshua Harshaw, who was a prominent slaveholder in the area.   It is in the Greek Revival style and was designed by James Warner Cooper.  No longer used by the Harshaw family or the descendants of the original congregation, it is now managed by North Carolina’s Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in April 1984.

Beyond the above, I could find very little else about the chapel.  The cemetery, however, is a different story.  What is important to understand here is that the cemetery predated the chapel by quite a number of years.  One local celebrity and controversial figure at rest in Harshaw Chapel graveyard is a man named Abraham Enloe, a man who died nearly 30 years before the chapel was built.  Abraham was said to have in his hire a servant girl named Nancy Hanks.   The story is that this is the same Nancy Hanks as Abraham Lincoln’s mother.  I found the full story on the web-site of a local North Carolina community newspaper, the WNC Sentinel from February 9, 2011 (Update – unfortunately the WNC Sentinel web-site no longer is operable).  Members of the Friends of Abraham Lincoln Birthplace are petitioning for his DNA to prove he is the true father of Abraham Lincoln although, so far, all attempts to have his DNA tested have been blocked.

Harshaw Chapel and Cemetery

Harshaw Chapel and Cemetery

–  Click on the image to enlarge or purchase  –

3 Comments

  1. Nice images Mark I really like the color of the bottom image as the brick and the sky contrast well.

  2. What an interesting bit of history, Mark.

    Those grave markers are quite weathered, a testament to their longevity. Really like the 2nd image showing the architecture of the church. Overall, it’s a scene that is repeated in every town and nook in the country but somehow each has just a little something different about them.

    Nice work, man. 😉

  3. Very nicely done Mark. I really like the way you’ve composed these.

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