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Volume 015-1 - January 1961 (4 pages)
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Page: of 4
LONE GRAVE BESIDE THE ROAD
Driving east on Highway 20 from Nevada
City past the Five Mile House, a motorist is
likely to miss a small white picket fence enclosure if he isn’t watching closely. It lies to
one side of the road between two large cedars, like a cradle with sentinels standing
guard at each end. Anyone who sees it in
passing is compelled, if only out of curiosity,
to stop.
Through the years this historic spot has
become known as the Lone Grave and has
been dramatized to the extent that truth has
been mingled with fiction.
According to the popular, often-told story,
a pioneer family, the Appersons by name,
were descending the western slopes of the
Sierra in their covered wagon following their
overland journey when in late May of 1858
they camped near a cool, mountain spring
on the ridge just east of Nevada City. While
camped there, two of their children fell sick
for some unknown reason (perhaps because
the spring might have been polluted), and
one of them, a two year old boy, died. The
child, Julius Albert Apperson, was buried
there at the campsite before the family resumed its trip, and the picture is brought to
mind of a bereaved pioneer mother reluctant
to leave her son behind in a lonely grave out
in the wilds.
Also according to the legend, the other
sick child, a girl, is said to have died while
the family was camped on Clear Creek near
the present McCourtney Road below Grass
Valley. She is supposed to have been buried
in an unmarked grave in that vicinity.
Research in the files of the Nevada Democrat at the Nevada City Library appears to
have turned up the true circumstances surrounding the Lone Grave. The following article appeared in the May 5, 1858 issue of the
Nevada Democrat:
“Sad Accident. — A little boy aged about
two years, the son of Mr. Apperson, who resides at the Spring Hill House, on the Washington Road, was terribly burned last Friday
evening. He was playing near the house with
some other small children, who had built a
fire. He had on a pair of loose pantaloons,
and in passing round the fire the left leg of
the pants took fire, and the children were
unable to put it out. The screams of the
little sufferer were heard by his mother,
who ran out and caught up the child and endeavored to extinguish the fire by wrapping
her clothes around him, but not succeeding,
she carried him across the road and threw
him into a trough of water. His left leg
Lone Grave Beside Highway 20
was so badly burned that all the skin came
off, and his left side was also considerably
burned. At first it was thought that he was
fatally injured, but hopes are now entertained of his recovery.”
The date on the Lone Grave is May 31,
1858, and from this it may be concluded that
the boy lingered almost a month before dying. Even though this true account does violence to the drama of the popular story, the
fact remains that the Appersons were among
the first settlers in the area and were indeed
pioneers.
From records on file at the Nevada
County Recorder’s Office, it can be ascertained that the Apperson’s did not remain
long at the Spring Hill House after the boy’s
death. They departed prior to November
7, 1859, because on that date E. W. Hollerman was granted a pre-emption claim to
land that is described as being bordered