S​outhampton Historical Society

Blues Gap Bennett Cemetery

This cemetery is located on land once owned by Joseph and Margaret Barkman Bennett, in later years it belonged to the Imes family and today the Johnsons.  The SHS decided to name it the Blues Gap Bennett Cemetery because there are already two Bennett Cemeteries in the area.  One is located on Rt. 326 on the former Alfred Bennett Farm where John and Clarissa Bennett, the first Bennetts in Bedford Co. are buried, and the other Bennett Cemetery is located near Artemas in Mann Township.  One of our members who used to live on Blues Gap Road said he could see the fence on the hill from his house. So once again as you are driving by in any direction you can see the wooden fence surrounding the small farm cemetery high on the hill.

On our first trip to the site we found a broken headstone that read Alice Griffith Bennett, 7 yr. old daughter of Enos and Mary Chaney Bennett (grand-daugher of Joseph and Margaret) along with a few other foot stones with initals.  Alice's stone will be repaired in the spring.

According to the Bennett Book, Enos Bennett married Mary Chaney and they had 8 children, one of them was "Alice Griffith Bennett ~ Sept. 26, 1886 ~ died at age 7; buried on the Grafton Imes place".

Thank you to all who donated money to purchase the Blues Gap Bennett Cemetery stone, we are currently collecting money for the fence.

 The stone was surrounded by many Bennett descendants on Nov. 16th during a special ceremony at the site.