The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

History takes a breath of fresh air

Arin Thompson

Daily Egyptian

Graveyards sometimes have residents unknown and Carbondale is no exception. Woodlawn Cemetery has one fanciful grave, which could be nearly 150 years old, and no one is sure who has been lying there all those years.

The Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau hosted an informative historical walk through Woodlawn Cemetery, 405 E. Main St., to provide Carbondale residents with a little more background on the city's roots.

The most intriguing attraction was a pendulous gray sarcophagus leering above ground on the south side of the cemetery. The lime-ridden stone coffin was visited most frequently because of the mystery surrounding its contents.

"It's such an unusual coffin," said host Judy Travelstead from Cobden. "In fact, there is no headstone."

There are two theories as to who occupies the cramped space inside the coffin. The first theory involves the gravestone next to the sarcophagus, which reads, "JW Landrum, Died July 4, 187-, Aged 47 years."

As the story goes, his wife is buried next to him, only she is above ground for a reason. She was placed above ground because she did not want to be buried in Yankee soil, as she was from Vicksburg, Miss. Mr. Landrum was a Carbondale native, and to honor his wife's wishes, he sprinkled soil from Vicksburg inside her coffin before the lid was sealed.

"One woman didn't even want to hear the other theories," Travelstead said. "She loved the Southern belle story so much."

Jim "Trigger" Lindsey, a retired SIUC police officer, came to the cemetery because he just likes to know a little about history and said that, going by, one can't help but look at the sarcophagus.

"It's better than sitting around watching the football game," Lindsey said. "The Rams are losing anyway."

Travelstead said a number of years ago a group of Carbondale legionnaires were trying to debunk the theory, saying it was "just so much romanticism."

The second theory states that not a woman, but a Union soldier is in the coffin. Lt. Colonel John Mills is said to be in the coffin above ground because his family heard that a Confederate soldier was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery as well. The family did not want two soldiers to occupy the same land.

The coffin underwent some hardship a number of years ago when it was struck by lightning. A large crack marks the injury, which also caused it to fall off of its stone foundation, though it never revealed its contents.

"It's a great story," Travelstead said. "It shouldn't be opened. Sometimes we know too much. It's better to leave it as a mystery."

Debbie Moore, director of the Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau, said this is the first time for an event of this nature to take place in the cemetery.

"Parts of the cemetery have been restored so we wanted to come show it off," Moore said.

City Councilman Brad Cole spearheaded the committee to restore the cemetery. Along with the Carbondale Preservation Society, the restoration started in 2001.

"It was a fight to get this stuff done," Cole said. "Nobody wanted to do this."

Some of the historical markers were replaced. A new parking lot and sidewalks were added, as well as a new external fence. Cole said the cemetery has a lot to offer the people of Carbondale, especially children.

"A lot of people aren't aware of some of the history that lies here," Cole said.

Moore hopes to hold this event annually in the future. She also hopes to involve more children via school projects.

"Part of it is to not just focus on the past, but build on the future," Moore said.

Casi Bridges, 13, from Cobden was a celebrity for the day because her fifth-generation great grandfather, Daniel Harmon Brush, the founder of Carbondale, was featured on the walk.

"I thought is was really cool and I'm doing a project on it and thought I could get some more stuff on it," Bridges said.

She was poked and prodded by the media all day, even though she just came to do a little research.

"I've been on TV," Bridges said. "I was so giggly I couldn't do it."

Brush came to the area in 1829. In 1852 he learned that the Illinois Central Railroad would build a line through Jackson County, so he bought the land between Makanda and De Soto. He named his new plot "Carbondale" because of all the revenue he speculated the coal industry would bring to the area.

As Brush was shaping the image of Carbondale, he and his partners inserted in the deeds of the town lots, a provision that there was to be no sale of alcohol. Carbondale was meant to be a non-alcoholic town, and if there was alcohol sold, all the proceeds were to be given to schools.

Moore said that one of the first Memorial Day services in Illinois and the nation took place at Woodlawn Cemetery on April 29, 1866. It started when three veterans of the Civil War were waiting for services to begin at the Crab Orchard Christian Church. They saw a young woman with two infants approach a small, unmarked grave and place flowers on it and kneel in prayer.

The two veterans decided that all the war dead should be honored, so they arranged a service for the next Sunday, the 29th, along with Colonel E. J. Ingersoll and General John A. Logan.

Nicole Davis, president of the Carbondale Business and Professional Women's Club, hosted the mass grave of 30 freed slaves.

The slaves were heading north by train and contracted small pox. They got off in Carbondale and were housed in homes and businesses until their deaths in 1864.

"We don't know where they were going or where they came from," Davis said.

Jeff and Candy Smith of Carbondale took a stroll through the cemetery with their children. Candy is Casi Bridges' history teacher and said she came by to check on her student.

"There's just so much here," Candy said.

Her daughter, sixth grader Samantha Smith, said she had been to the cemetery before on a school fieldtrip.

"We had to find certain things," Samantha said. "It was like a scavenger hunt."

Samantha, who had just tied a soccer game with St. Louis, was still in her black and white uniform. The No.9 "Southern Illinois Stinger" said they had to find the grave of the freed slaves and a gravestone that is upside down.

"It was a rough game," added her father as she lead the way to show them more of the neat things she had found in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Reporter Arin Thompson can be reached at

athompson@dailyegyptian.com

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