KIRKSVILLE, MO -- Formerly known as the Kirksville Cemetery, it underwent several additions over the years and was eventually named Forest-Llewellyn Cemetery, the oldest public cemetery in Kirksville.
Dating back to 1845, the historic cemetery is the final resting place for many of Kirksville's pioneers.
“The first person buried there was a traveler that passed through town about and there's not even a gravestone and then the second person buried there was Jesse Kirk, the person who the town of Kirksville is named after,” said Debi Boughton, Director of Cemetery Theatre.
Each year, “Cemetery Theatre” is put on as part of the Fourth of July festivities, where the founders of Kirksville come to life.
“We have done Andrew Taylor Still and his wife, we have done Sam and Ida Pickler, the Pickler Library at Truman State University, that's the Pickler family,” Boughton said.
Plans are underway to fix up Andrew Taylor Still's grave, who was the founder of osteopathic medicine. People travel from all over the country to visit his grave.
And it's not just the most prominent of society buried in the cemetery, but citizens from all walks of life who called Kirksville home.
Forest-Llewellyn cemetery has both confederate and union soldiers buried there. It's unique that we have that. That cemetery is also not segregated, which is unusual for a historic cemetery and so there are black families and white families buried all together,” said Boughton.
Although it is a quiet place, much of the town's history can be found under the shade trees of the Forest-Llewellyn Cemetery.
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