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