They say that the land for the
first church and cemetery in Volusia county was donated here in 1872 by
Duncan Joseph McBride along with his family who moved here in 1851 from
North Carolina. McBride had made hats for the Confederate Army Soldiers
during the Civil War. The original and first church was built all by
himself. He owned a homestead near the cemetery which later would be
owned by his great grandson Howard Steward Mc Bride Sr. and his wife
Jesse.
The small community at the time was called Midway
because it sat between Tampa Bay and Jacksonville Florida and since this
Methodist Church sat between the two major cities they called it the
Midway Methodist Church. Surrounding the church would be a cemetery with
many early pioneers of Barberville such as the Barbers, McBride's but not
all of them since some of the McBride family is buried at Purdom Cemetery
a few miles away, Bellamy's, Reeves Again some of the Reeves are buried at
Purdom, Cades, Richardson's, Buckles, Hulls and Ropes. So there are
basically 8 family's mainly buried here. I am starting to believe that
since this cemetery is very small that many of these family's continued
there burials at Purdom Cemetery a much larger cemetery a few miles away
we investigated. In
1890 the original church building was replaced by another in the exact
same site. The first pastor was Reverend J.A. Hendry eventually this
church closed in 1964 and the congregation moved to Deleon Springs,
Pierson and perhaps DeLand which had much bigger parishes. The church was
moved to the Barberville Pioneer Settlement Of Creative Arts and today is
used for students on field trips to learn a little bit about the
historical buildings and history to the area. We did tried to get into the
pioneer settlement but were greeted by a guard dog so we were not able to
get any ghost photos near the church. However in the cemetery today a
monument stands where the church once existed. Today
the cemetery sits alone in the woods very forgotten. The fencing is all
torn down the hurricanes such as Charley, Frances and Jeanne have damaged
the stones with many fallen trees down on top of stones. The brush is
higher then our waste in most areas and if the dogs near by do not get you
the Sand Spurs will here. Many of the stones are broken, worn, weathered,
or just very small limestone blocks with no name or date. However
for such a small cemetery one thing that does stand out here is the fact
that there are four Confederates buried here from the Civil War. I believe
that there are no indications since all the confederate flags and markers
have been removed how sad to see such soldiers forgotten. The four
soldiers buried here are William Hull, G.E. Maull, John L. Cade, and
finally James T. Day of the Clinch's Light Artillery division in
Georgia. Of course it also is apparent that each of the men's families are
buried here in the cemetery as well. The
cemetery seems to be quite haunted but peaceful. But like most cemeteries
in poor shape or in the middle of the woods this one seems to be something
like out of a horror movie. Strange enough there is this brick structure
in the cemetery whether it is a grave I do not know it could have been
part of the church at one time. Near the cemetery is a trail that goes off
into the woods it could be for four wheelers who knows but we definitely
will return here to bring you a future story as we delve into the history
and mystery of the Barber's who started the little town of Barberville. ©
By Rick-AngelOfThyNight
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