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China Grove in Northwestern Pike County is steeped in history. The sleepy hamlet can boast of prosperous Southern planters, a state legislator, soldiers who fought in the Creek Indian War of 1836, physicians and a store kept by Andrew Love, the son of Ann Love who used a whip to urge drunkards lying around the square in Troy to go to church.

Marsha Boutwell, event committee member, laughingly, added to the local lore of China Grove with a story about two business safes that were blown open with sticks of dynamite.

Those and many other stories may be shared at the Concord/China Grove Cemetery Homecoming on Sunday, August 21. However, the focus of the homecoming is directed toward family and the family ties that run deep in China Grove.

Steve Flowers of Troy said he, like so many others, attends homecomings at Concord/China Grove Cemetery because of family connections in the historic cemetery.

“Many of us who go to China Grove go because we have family members buried there. Some of us four generations,” Flowers said.  “Many of our families are intertwined so we are related in several ways. It’s interesting to know who your relatives are and how you are connected.”

Flowers said there is a lot of community history preserved at Concord/China Grove Cemetery.

“It’s important for the cemetery to be maintained in order to preserve the memories of those buried there and the histories told on the gravestones,” Flowers said. “It’s important to me that I do my part in the preservation of the Concord/China Grove Cemetery.”

The 2022 Concord/China Grove Cemetery Homecoming will be dedicated to the memory of all pioneer families who came to the area to begin new lives,” Boutwell said. “We invite everyone with ties to the cemetery and those who are interested in the history of China Grove and the cemetery to join us for a shared old-fashioned dinner on the ground at noon.”

After lunch, there will be a brief  business meeting  followed by a short program about those who pioneered the area known as China Grove.