We found an interesting spot just off the beaten path.

Cliff and I went to an Allis Chalmers tractor swap-meet at Boonville today.  The sun was shining brightly and temperatures were rising gradually.  We finished our business there before noon.  As we got in the car to go home, I asked Cliff how far it was to Versailles from there.  He thought it was pretty far, but the IPad told me that forty miles would get us there. We found Highway 5 south and headed to Versailles.  Why not take a side trip?

I had packed a couple of sandwiches, two apples, and some cookies, as well as a thermos of coffee, and when we came to a park we recognized from our biker days, that's where we decided to eat.  We pulled into a different spot than before, though, because I needed to pee, and there are no facilities there.  So Cliff parked where I would be hidden from view from the road.  Yes, I am THAT much a hillbilly.

In the past, we picnicked in the distance at the other end of the park.  Although cars come by fairly frequently, it is a peaceful, quiet place.  In the distance cattle were grazing at the tiny bits of grass emerging from the earth.

It was still a little too breezy and cool to eat outside, so Cliff and I sat in the car to eat our lunch.  When I was done I got out with my camera and, turning to look behind us, realized there was a very old cemetery there.  

This stone lists the people buried in the graveyard.

By George, we've found a treasure here at this little park!  I've always loved cemeteries.

Most of the remaining stones are illegible, words worn smooth by many years of rain.  The rest of them are totally gone, just tiny pieces of granite looking like scattered rocks here and there.  

Fading away like old, ancient bones.  But as it turns out, there is a reason this old burial ground hasn't been forgotten.  That reason is a lady by the name of Hannah Cole.

Click HERE to read about her.  I didn't find out her entire story, of course, until I got home to the computer.  Meanwhile, there was something at this memorial stone that I didn't understand:

What on earth?  Why all the money tossed around?  I had no idea, but like a good little lemming, I begged Cliff for a couple of coins so I could add to the booty.  This gave me another Internet search upon my arrival home.  

Obviously people decided she qualified as a soldier due to her Indian-fighting, because according to my information, it's a custom to put pennies on a soldier's grave.  You can read about that HERE, if you are ignorant of this custom as I was.  

And NOW I know why this little park is called "The Hannah Cole Roadside Park".  

People certainly had to be tough, back in the olden days, didn't they?