Take a self-guided audio tour of the Locust Grove Cemetery in Nicholasville. Learn about former community members as you visit their graves.
About Locust Grove Cemetery
African Americans have been buried in Locust Grove Cemetery since the mid to late nineteenth century.
The United States has a long history of racially segregating cemeteries. In the Atlas Obscura article “The Persistent Racism of America’s Cemeteries,” Jennifer Young writes, “Until the 1950s, about 90 percent of all public cemeteries in the U.S. employed a variety of racial restrictions.”
About the Tour
The Jessamine County Public Library first published the Locust Grove Cemetery Audio Tour in 2019 as part of the Locust Grove Cemetery Oral History Podcast.
Now that the tour is part of the Jessamine History Walks Podcast, listeners can explore the history of both Maple Grove Cemetery and Locust Grove Cemetery in one place.
On the Locust Grove tour, you’ll learn about former community members such as:
- Andrew McAfee, Jessamine County’s first African American councilmember
- Emma Jean Guyn Miller, a much-loved Jessamine County teacher who lived to be 107 years old
- And more.
You’ll also listen to family members tell stories about their relatives who are buried in Locust Grove.
For example, Jennifer Smith and Anna Kenion talk about their parents, Dorothy and Andrew Smith, discussing their faith and love as well as some of the challenges they faced, including Andrew’s loss of sight.