Grave Hunting: The thing to do in Misenheimer, NC

Rabbit, rabbit!  This is the first thing you are supposed to say on the first of every month.  I heard it from a friend I don't talk to any more and she said that its "just what you're supposed to do."  I hope she's not screwing with me, like the time when my friend Dave told me everyone in Boston says they are "wicked dumpa" when they are really, really drunk.  I still use that saying, though it means nothing to the average Bostonian.  I would assume you get good luck, bigger muscles (like I need them!), or something good at least with the "rabbit, rabbit" phrase.  But, all I've received have been some eye rolls.  The first person I saw today was a nice woman named Jo at the Dollar Store.  I neglected to say "rabbit, rabbit" and am still waiting the consequences.  So, I went to a graveyard where nothing spooky or creepy ever happens.  Also, the rabbit this man is holding is real.  He is a wax figure, though.

OK, so instead of sitting and watching All My Children and Judge Judy on the boob tube all day, I wanted to make the most of my stay in Charlotte.  I also just said boob.  I decided to hit up an old cemetery where I have a lot of family buried on my mother's side.  Out in Misenheimer, NC, where the famed Pfieffer College...nay...University! resides (my mother is an alumnus), there is an old dirt road that leads to a Methodist church called Wesley Chapel.  I read, it was organized in 1858, burned in 1957, and rebuilt in 1959.  I am hoping my family had nothing to do with th

ose unfortunate 2 years.  Anyway, I wanted to take some pictures of the cemetery because 1.  I have a new camera and 2. I like gravestones.  Now you're thinking, isn't that pre

tty morbid to make the first pictures taken on your new camera that of gravestones?  Well, yes.  I like gravestones!  But, I took a few pictures and walked around a bit.  I think my mother's family (the Culps and the Peelers) were fairly important in these back woods.  I counted like 40+ Culp graves and 15+ Peeler graves.  Dare I say the Mafia of Misenheimer?  Yes, I went there.  The gravestone I have here is of Samuel A. Culp.  It was the oldest I could find that was legible.  He was the kingpin godfather of the Culp clan, I assume.

Another thing I noticed were the prominent other names in the cemetery, like Bolton (of Michael fame?), Frisk, Berringer, and Earnhardt (yes, THAT Earnhardt).  In fact, I'm hoping there was some Culp-Earnha

rdt intermingling back in the day so I can get some residual Nascar checks to fund my expensive lifestyle.   Some of us aren't working these days.  I don't think these other fami

lies had anything on the Culps, though, simply because of the proximity of their gravestones.  The Culps were all over this plot of land.  They intermingled with many-o-family.  In fact, probably a little too much intermingling based

 on the looks and actions of my uncle Steve.  I'm just joking.  He did go to Duke, though...disappointing.   Anyway, the other families are all in little pockets.  They were obviously shy and talked to no other families in the village.  We rule!

Anyway, Kannapolis is nice.  After seeing the Earnhardt gravestone, I plan on hitting the Dale Trail and maybe even stopping to revere the massive bronze Earnhardt statue in the middle of town.  It will give me some ideas for my own massive statue that I plan to erect later in life.  Something tells me that'll be my best photo this trip.  Below are a few more gravestones of my ancestors.  I know an encore of graves when I sense them...