Event Also Celebrates Cemetery Restoration
Family members from eight states will gather on June 23 for a special DAR/SAR marking ceremony honoring Ensign James Logan McKee and celebrating significant progress in the restoration of the McKee Big Spring Cemetery.
Over the past five years, the McKee family has collaborated with descendants of pioneer families buried there, volunteers and community partners to restore and preserve the historic site. The event will provide an opportunity for descendants to connect, explore their shared heritage, and pay tribute to a Revolutionary War patriot.
Recent improvements include the installation of a new fence and signage, along with the restoration of seven gravestones. An additional six stones are currently undergoing restoration.
This project serves as a model for preserving cemeteries on private property through partnerships between nonprofit organizations, a private landowner, and community volunteers. The McKee Big Spring Cemetery Association funded a GPR study, signage, and raised funds to engage a professionally trained conservator to oversee the restoration work.
A donor contributed the fence and Buddy Powers, owner of Big Spring Farm, Bailey Sanders, farm manager, and Jimmy and Jake McCown provided the labor and equipment to remove the old fences, vines bushes, trees, and install the new one.
A new cemetery sign was installed last week. Updated brochures — complete with QR codes linking to a digital burial map — have also been prepared to assist descendants and visitors.
A family dinner will be held the evening prior to the Daughters of the American Revolution/Sons of the American Revolution ceremony next week, featuring the McKee Gallery — an exhibit highlighting profiles of more than 40 descendants of the pioneer brothers, John, Robert and William.
The marking ceremony will be co-sponsored by the Frontier-Natural Bridge Chapter NSDAR and the Virginia SAR Color Guard. Descendants of several pioneer families — including McKee, McCown, Hamilton, Gilmore, and Cunningham —are expected to attend, gathering on land settled by their ancestors more than 270 years ago.
For more information about the event or the cemetery project, contact Pauline McKee, chair of the McKee Big Spring Cemetery Association at mckeespringcemeteryassociation@@ outlook.com or (336) 328-5507.
ABOVE, a new fence is among the recently completed improvements at the McKee Big Spring Cemetery. AT RIGHT, during work to remove the old fences, Buddy Powers, owner of Big Spring Farm, bends down to remove vines from a stone while Jake McCown operates a machine to tear out the back fence.
PAULINE McKee, chair of the McKee Big Spring Cemetery Association, explains to volunteers last fall the restoration of Ensign James Logan McKee’s stone.
