The following article was written by Alan Junkins and published in JFA newsletter no. 12, March 1999.
The Samuel Junkins burial ground at the second green on the Highland Farm golf course now has a beautiful black metal fence.
During the summer of 1995, we had fourteen tree stumps ground out of the ground making is a much easier job to mow and clean up after the winter winds brought down small branches and leaves from the large oak trees that surround the burial ground. In 1997, Roland and I looked at several fence companies for a proper fence to have installed at the site. There is a ring of trees around the site and approximately twenty-five feet away is the edge of the second green on the golf course. The back side of the burial ground overlooks a small stream that feeds a lake on the course. The burial ground is off limits to the golfers so there is no one swinging a club in the area. They must pick up their ball and drop outside the area. We were not concerned about golfers walking into the area, in fact we were in hopes that they would come in to look at the head stones, but we felt that a nice low wrought iron fence would really set off this beautiful spot.
We found a local company to do the job and at the 1997 Board of Directors' meeting received approval to use a little over $2,000 from the Burial Ground Restoration Fund to have a black anodized aluminum fence installed. The fence has an opening on the front side facing the green so that golfers can walk in to retrieve their balls, if necessary, without climbing over it. Otherwise, it runs along three sides of the burial ground, leaving the back side open. No one will approach the back side as it runs abruptly down hill to the small stream.
Roland and I met the fence installers on the appointed morning and spent most of the day with them as they laid out the lines for the fence, dug the holes for the posts, set the fence sections in place, and poured the concrete to set the posts. When it was all done, we were very proud of the way that it sets off the whole area.
Ten years ago when Don Junkins and I were first led to this spot by two hunters, we only found the one or two stones still standing deep in the woods, we could not imagine what a beautiful spot it could be, and is, today. The added bonus was that during restoration, the ground yielded the oldest identifiable Junkins stone in York, my gr-gr-gr-gr-grandfather Samuel4 Junkins, 1735-1791, and gr-grandfather of the three York boys who went west in the mid-1800s and propagated the Junkins clans of Ohio, Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas.
Following, you will see the before and after photos and some work in progress. (to come)
