Fundraising project underway for grave houses at Martha

Two grave houses at the Hay and Sparks Cemetery at Martha would be preserved if enough money is raised for the project.

By TONY FYFFE

BSN Editor

MARTHA — A project is underway to raise money to pay for the preservation of two historic grave houses at a Lawrence County cemetery.

A grave house is exactly what it sounds like — a structure built over or near a grave as a way to protect it and keep grave robbers away.

Two such structures are located at the Hay and Sparks Cemetery at Martha and are eligible for national historic registration, according to Gary Hay of Marysville, Ohio, who has written a booklet on the cemetery and created a fundraiser to preserve the grave houses.

Hay has hired a dry-stone historic preservation mason, Stuart Joynt IV of Lexington, to restore the foundations for $4,000, or $2,000 per house.

Hay said he has received $2,900 in donations so far. The restoration work is planned to begin in July, and Hay hopes work on both foundations can be done at the same time.

The Hay and Sparks Cemetery, located on a small hill along Ky. 32 at Martha, has 45 graves, including the final resting places for 22 adults, nine children and seven stillborn infants. Seven graves are unmarked.

Hay said in his publication that he believes the first burial took place on April 25, 1857 for the stillborn son of John and Rebecca Hay.

“There is no head stone other than a badly worn short stone by the grave of John & Rebecca Hay,” the booklet says.

The two grave houses have no construction documentation, Hay said.

“I remember my Aunt Angeline Hay Ross Fields telling me that her father John was buried in that little house,” Hay says in the booklet. “My first cousin Rebecca Hay Phillips also referred to her Gran Pap John being buried in the little house. I know my immediate family always referred to our grandfather’s grave as the little house.”

Hay refers to the structures as the Little Hay House and the Little Sparks House.

The Little Hay House was built over the graves of John Hay, who died in 1918, and his first wife, Rebecca Skaggs Hay, who died in 1897. The structure is 11.8 feet by 12-and-a-half feet tall, with a 7 by 7-inch beam base plate a tin-gabled roof. The sides are 4-and-a-half feet tall, with a door measuring 35 inches wide and 44 inches tall.

The Little Sparks House is over the resting place of Solomon Sparks Jr., who died in 1909, and Nancy A. Sparks, who died in 1947. It measures 12-and-a-half by 10-and-a-half tall by 8 feet, with a 5- by 5-inch beam base plate and a tin-gabled roof. The sides are 4-and-half inches tall with a door measuring 35 inches wide and 44 inches tall.

To the best of Hay’s knowledge, the two structures are the only grave houses in Lawrence County. The “golden age” of grave houses was from 1880 to 1930, he said, with both open and closed structures constructed.

“The demise of these structures is due to concrete and steel vaults being used,” the booklet says.

Both structures at the Hay and Sparks Cemetery are open grave houses.

“These two structures are unique as they have a dry laid stone foundation, they are both in relatively good shape,” Hay said in his publication. “The base construction is of heavier materials and the size of them is greater as most others just cover the grave and both stand 8’ tall.”

An interesting tale surrounding the houses has been handed down by Hay’s family members over the years.

“The curse being that the grave had to be covered before the first rain or the next oldest family member would die,” Hay said.

Hay said the grave houses need to be preserved because they are “not only important to our family heritage and culture” but also to Lawrence County and Kentucky as an educational tool “about those who preceded us and their way of life and beliefs.”

To donate to the preservation project, call Hay at 1-614-314-5379 or email him at ghay51@yahoo.com.