2018 Old Settlers Library Parade Float

Mooresville Public Library had a fine float in this year's Old Settlers Parade.  We dropped by to take a few photos (click to enlarge).

2018 Old Settlers Festival

The 2018 Old Settlers Festival will be held at Pioneer Park (1101 Indianapolis Road) in Mooresville, Indiana on Sunday-Monday-Tuesday, August 5-6-7, 2018.  The festival opens at the park at 3 p.m. on Sunday, and opens at 5 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.

 

Preceding the festival will be the Old Settlers Parade through downtown Mooresville at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 5, 2018.

This year, there will also be events held on Saturday, August 4, 2018, as mentioned in a newspaper article by Randy Haymaker (Mooresville-Decatur Times, Saturday, July 28, 2018), reprinted below:

Old Settlers update

• From Randy Haymaker
 
• Jul 28, 2018 Updated Jul 28, 2018
•     
• MOORESVILLE — Mooresville Old Settlers Queen candidates Brianna Card and Brooke Uhls will finish their fundraising events today.
  One of them will be crowned Queen of the event Sunday, August 5 at Pioneer Park.
  The 147th rendition of the Mooresville Old Settlers picnic and celebration will begin a day earlier than normal this year, with the Delta Theta Tau Flagtown 5 and 10 K race/walk at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4, and an acoustical music festival from 1 to 8 p.m. the same day — both at Pioneer Park. Food service will be available.
  The traditional outing is Aug. 5 to 7 at Pioneer Park on Indianapolis Road.
  The event began in 1870, when town founder Samuel Moore donated five acres to hold a reunion of pioneers. With the exception of years during World War II, the festival has provided entertainment, food, fellowship and fun ever since.
  Mooresville Lions Club has managed the event since just after World War II, when returning veterans restarted the festival. Profits from ride tickets and booth rentals are shared with the Mooresville park system and the remainder goes to charity throughout the year. No money is retained for club events, which are paid for through dues.
  Many other community and school groups participate and use the festival to raise money for charitable causes. Area businesses and agencies also provide marketing and information booths.
  The festival begins at Mooresville High School with the Veterans Parade at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5. Rides open following the parade, and the Kappa Kappa Sigma Queen coronation is at 7 p.m. The project raises money through a pancake breakfast, spaghetti dinner, bake sales and other events.
  The first contest was in 1964, and over the years, $100,000 was raised to help buy equipment for the Pioneer Park swimming pool.
  Entertainment on the stage begins right after the parade Sunday, followed by the queen contest and then music until 11 p.m. Performing Sunday will be the Spring Hill Christian Center, followed by Jim Harris’ band at 4 p.m. Mike Whitlock’s band will perform after the Queen Contest.
  Music begins Monday night at 6 p.m. with Steve Byrd, and the Free Wheeling America Band will hit the stage at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
  Discount carnival ride tickets, saving up to 30 percent of cost, are available at the main, Monrovia, Plainfield and Heartland Crossing branches of Citizens Bank, Allen’s Barber Shop, the office of Dr. Phil Wright, Hong Kong restaurant, Village Barber Shop and the Pioneer Park office.

2017 Old Settlers Festival Library Booth

Visit the library's booth at the Old Settlers Festival (August 6-7-8, 2017) in Mooresville's Pioneer Park.  Pick-up lots of free goodies and sign-up for free tickets to the Indiana State Fair.

Click Photos to Enlarge

2017 Old Settlers Parade Library Float

In case you missed it on Sunday afternoon (August 6), here's the library's float in the 2017 Old Settlers Parade.  Click the photos to enlarge.

2017 Mooresville Old Settlers Festival

This year's Old Settlers Festival will be held August 6-8, 2017 at Pioneer Park, which is located at 1101 Indianapolis Road in Mooresville, Indiana. Mooresville Public Library (MPL) will have a table in the non-profit organizations tent area.

As always, click the images to enlarge.

Old Settlers Festival

(Photo courtesy of Visit Morgan County Indiana)

The festival opens with the Old Settlers Parade through downtown Mooresville. The route begins at Mooresville High School and runs south along North Indiana Street, then turns east onto East Main Street to Samuel Moore Parkway.  MPL will have a float in the parade again this year (click here to see our previous floats).

2016 MPL Old Settlers Parade Float

Learn more about the history of the Old Settlers Picnic from our previous blog post and the following video.

History of Old Settlers Picnic (1870-Present),

by Mooresville Public Library

(MPL Treasure Trove Video #6)

Drop by our table, if you have a chance.

1919 Mooresville's "Ford Gals"

Heading to Old Settlers

Myrtle Keller (1895-1997), shown at the steering wheel in the 1919 photo above, served at various times as clerk, assistant librarian, and circulation director at Mooresville Public Library during the 1960s and 1970s, and she was on the library board of trustees during the 1980s. We've blogged about her many times before.

Watching the Old Settlers Parade (1970s)

(Allison's Amoco is in the background)

along South Indiana Street just north

of the High Street intersection

Mooresville High School Band performing in

the Old Settlers Parade (1970s)

Old Settlers rocking chair winners (for being

the oldest Mooresville residents) (1970)

Burial Map to Mooresville's Old M.E. Cemetery

Thanks to Mooresville sexton Ed Bucker, the Indiana Room at Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library has a burial map for the Old Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Cemetery on West Washington Street. A spreadsheet accompanying the map lists burial plots of many of the town's earliest pioneers and settlers.  (Click the photos below to enlarge.)

Old Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Cemetery,

also known as Old Mooresville Cemetery,

on West Washington Street 

Old M.E. Cemetery was established in 1829

Painting of the first Mooresville M.E. Church (built in 1839)

(on West Washington Street, in front of the cemetery)

Photograph of the first Mooresville M.E. Church

(from Hadley, Almira Harvey.  A Brief History of Mooresville and Vicinity [1918])

(Click here to see a digital copy of the entire book)

The photos below show where to find the cemetery burial map.  To the left of the map (in a yellow binder) is the spreadsheet listing the names of those buried there, as noted on the map.

Although these materials do not circulate, they may be examined in the library's Indiana Room.

There are several online resources available to search burial records of the Old M.E. Cemetery.  These include:

• The Morgan County History & Genealogy Association website; and
• The Find-a-Grave website.

The MCH&GA website also lists other Morgan County cemetery burial records, among other historical and genealogical information.

Besides the Bucker burial map mentioned above, the MPL Indiana Room has several print materials that list burials in Old M.E. Cemetery.  These include:

• Cemetery records compiled by the Mooresville, Indiana White Lick Chapter of the D.A.R. (Mrs. Olin D. Keith and Mr. and Mrs. Carl C. Cowen, compilers) (click here for a library catalog entry--library call number I REF 929.5 DAR).  Other Morgan County cemetery records may be found in these reference books and related materials, all under the library call number I REF 929.5;
• Local History vertical files (under specific cemetery names).  These files are kept in locked drawers in the MPL Indiana Room.  Please ask library staff for assistance.

A digitized library handout provides these details about the Old M.E. Cemetery:

• "Samuel and Eliza Moore donated the land on West Washington Street for use as a cemetery, now known as 'Old Cemetery,' and to serve as the site of the first M.E. Church (built in 1839). Martha J. Worthington, Eliza Moore’s first cousin, became the first person buried in Old Cemetery in Mooresville. She died at age 21 on May 15, 1829."

The source for the above-quoted paragraph was page 76 of A Brief History of Mooresville, Indiana, 1824-1974, by Clara S. Richardson (1974).  Read a digitized copy of the entire book here.  The relevant page is reprinted below (click image to enlarge).

Page 76 of Clara Richardson's book

Besides these materials, there are some other online discussions about the Old M.E. Cemetery, both from this blog (click here and here and here) and the library's digitized handouts (click here).

Visit the MPL Indiana Room for more local history resources, or click here to find a quick summary of online links available.  The MPL website also has a variety of web pages devoted to local history.