Tiny cemetery looms large in Lawrence history - Lawrence, Ks. - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

Like the medals displayed by a war-hardened soldier, Lawrence proudly wears the signs of its resiliency from Quantrill's bloody raid carried out 138 years ago today.

Numerous downtown buildings are adorned with plaques commemorating the massacre, and the city is quick to tout Massachusetts Street's place in history.

But far from the heart of the city, and the center of that Aug. 21, 1863, conflict, lies an oft-overlooked reminder of the price paid by Lawrence's Free State forefathers. Hidden among the commercial and residential development at Sixth and Kasold lies a tiny, nine-plot burial ground.

The oldest of the markers belongs to George Burt. Etched on his weathered tombstone: "Killed in Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence, Aug. 21, 1863."

Retired accountant and former Lawrence Mayor John Weatherwax works less than 100 yards from the cemetery and keeps a detailed file on its history.

Weatherwax says that in 1858, Burt, a New Hampshire native, bought 160 acres on what is today the northwest corner of the intersection of Sixth Street and Kasold Drive. The spot was often used as a stagecoach stop along the California Trail between Lawrence and Big Springs. Burt farmed the land for about five years before selling half his claim to a friend from Back East, Henry T. Davis.

"On the evening of Aug. 20,1863, Burt went into town to do some business with his banker," finishing up the land transaction with Davis, Weatherwax said. "He stayed overnight at a boarding house downtown and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was killed the next morning."

At the time, Burt's burial ground was more than 2 miles outside Lawrence city limits. Nearly 100 years later, during Weatherwax's stint as mayor in the early 1950s, agriculture was still the primary use of the land. But urban encroachment eventually reached the cemetery, which now lies within the property lines of the Raco Westridge Car Wash.

Weatherwax says restrictive covenants protected the ground from falling victim to the wrecking ball or the asphalt spreader, but Watkins Community Museum of History Director Steve Jansen says Weatherwax deserves much of the credit for helping save the small cemetery.

"I'd have to give credit to John and the local developers of that project, because they did it the right way ... it's just an example of what I hope we will do increasingly as we do developments," Jansen said. "We should not ignore what has been a part of the landscape, especially when it comes to people who are buried in the ground."

The cemetery's most distinct headstone is that of Burt's friend Davis, who farmed the land for nearly 30 years after Burt's death, until his own in 1892.

Weatherwax was instrumental in organizing a 1992 celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of Davis' death at nearby Henry T's, the bar and grill that today bears the Lawrence pioneer's name.

"This is not exactly a tourist site, because very, very few people, even those that have lived in Lawrence for years, are aware that it's here," Weatherwax said. "But it is a footnote to history, particularly Quantrill's Raid, which is the most important, graphic incident that's occurred in Lawrence."