Watterson Woods Property Owners Association

Pioneer Family Cemetery Restored

Jun 03, 2004

By SCOTT WADE, The Courier-Journal
Tuesday, May 2, 2000

A wooded area along Watterson Trail in Jeffersontown has served for generations to camouflage history -- a cemetery of one of Jefferson County's most important early families.

Although land around the small plot was preserved when the latest sections of the Watterson Woods subdivision were built nearby about six years ago, it was -- until yesterday -- no more than a weedy, rocky piece of forgotten and neglected lore.

Through the efforts of the Watterson Woods Homeowners Association, state archaeologists and A District Jefferson County Commissioner Russ Maple, work began yesterday to restore the cemetery and investigate its history.

There also are plans to erect a marker and use the small area as a gathering site for residents of Watterson Woods, a subdivision of some 600 homes.

Yesterday, as Jefferson County historian Donna Neary and Kentucky Archaeological Survey staff member Jay Stottman looked on, a backhoe operator dug a trench outside the walled-in cemetery in an effort to determine if any slaves had been buried there.

None were found.

Neary said yesterday that no one knows for sure who is buried in the cemetery, except that they are members of the Hite family.

The cemetery site, off Watterson Trail south of Taylorsville Road, was part of the 900-acre Joseph Hite plantation.

Joseph Hite, born in 1756, moved to the land in the 1780s. He generally kept about 18 slaves, a relatively large number for those times, when most slave owners had one or two, Stottman said.

Joseph's father, Abraham Hite, was a Revolutionary War captain, and his brother Isaac once was shot by Indians and was one of the Ten Long Hunters, of which Daniel Boone also was a member.

Together, the Hites owned thousands of acres in Jefferson County in 1796.

Glendon Smith, president of the Watterson Woods Homeowners Association, said neighbors have been talking for a few years about restoring the cemetery. Maple got involved when a resident contacted his chief of staff, Linda Jackson, who has spearheaded the work.

Using discretionary funds, Maple's office paid for yesterday's digging, which cost about $1,500, and will work with neighbors to continue cleaning up the site.

Meanwhile, state employee and archaeologist Matthew Prybylski will research historic documents to help determine who is in the graves.

Maple said a plaque might be installed eventually to describe the Hite family history.

No Hite family members were present yesterday. Watterson Woods developer Bill Scott said he was unable to contact them.