Pine Grove Cemetery

I posted a link to the Pine Grove Cemetery listing that was compiled by Sharon and submitted to SCGENWEB in 2000. It is a very useful record and tool.

For the Henry White branch of the Whites, Pine Grove is sacred ground. Henry and Emma are there as well as her parents and grandparents. Most of the children of Henry and Emma are there with their wives/husbands and some of their children. Other parts of the family and many, many friends are there as well.

When I was a boy, Grandaddy Hammond was one of the leaders of the church at Pine Grove. I can't count the number of times I went with him to mow the cemetery and care for many of the graves there. He was not a "big talker," but he would talk a little, and by the time he died in 1971, he had schooled me on the connections there, who they were and little bits about them. Those are valuable memories and they are a strong part of who I am.

The care that Grandaddy Hammond took of the cemetery and Mama Hammond's grave was a natural extension of the love that he had for her during her life, and little way of honoring and reconnecting with her and others who had gone before him. My Aunt Emma Rae Hammond Eskridge has faithfully placed natural flowers and arrangements on their grave on every important day in the same way that Grandaddy did before he died, and it is comforting to ride by and see her mark there.

A few years ago, I took daffodil bulbs and planted them between the foot markers of Grandaddy and Mama Hammond. They both loved flowers so much, and every Spring, the flowers bloom, and for a day or two they are a fleeting symbol of who they were and how they flowered for a little while.