Shady Grove Cemetery between Cape Girardeau and Dutchtown at the deadend of CR 211 is the final resting spot for more than 250 members of the area’s black community. It dates to before the Civil War. A reader pointed it out to me after I did a story on the Pecan Grove School, which is at the corner of Hwy 74 and CR 211.
When I went there about two years ago, it was in pretty ratty shape. When I returned with LaFern and Shari Stiver on a beautiful fall day in 2011, the land had been cleared. I hope careful note was made of where the tombstones were located because they had apparently been moved to make the clean-up easier. I did note red flags scattered here and there.
More information about Shady Grove
The Missourian ran a fairly long piece about the history of the cemetery in the June 25, 2008, edition.- The Find A Grave website lists 131 interments and has a map that shows where Shady Grove is located.
- Diana Steele-Bryant and Sharon Sanders, librarian for The Southeast Missourian, have published a book, “Dark Woods and Periwinkle: A Glance Back at Shady Grove,” which documents 240 burials. It is available from the Cape Girardeau Genealogical Society web site.
Photo Gallery of Shady Grove Cemetery
Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.
What spectacular photos! Thanks for the marvelous links!
To think Mary J. Wilson is still alive……………..
I don’t know that Mary J. Wilson is still alive. She may be buried elsewhere or her tombstone may not have been updated.
As I was doing my genealogy project, I found several family tombstones where the date of death had not been entered. As a relative, I would get the death certificate listing the cemetery to have the local marker business enter the date of death. Most of these family members had been dead for decades.
Dick McLard and I did a lot lf clean up in 2012 but we did not move any markers..
Bob White
I grew up on the land next the cemetery (by the pond) and just walked the cemetery yesterday. Has anyone cleaned it up since 2012?
I think some work has been done it, but I don’t know for sure.
I erge all Gaboney and Cato to get an ancestry DNA test performed