The Mount Horeb Cemetery Association held its annual business meeting on May 3 at Mount Horeb Church to discuss goals for the upcoming year.

The meeting had 17 people in attendance. Among the topics of discussions were the extension of culvert, stabilizing and cleaning of stones, donations, adding the cemetery to the historical site, the bi-laws of verifying blood vs. marriage and the decision of creating a Facebook page. The annual meeting is held on the first Sunday of May.

Board member Brian Tate said the association needs a dedicated administrator to maintain a Facebook page. The association currently doesn’t have any social media accounts.

“It’s not difficult,” Tate said. “It’s just that somebody has to be willing to do it. I think that if somebody here or somebody in the membership wants to do it, they should approach the board and we can obviously hear their plans.”

Board member Sandy Bothe said the association has filed the paperwork to add the cemetery to the historical site.

“We didn’t get down there to get it turned in, but we will get it done before the next meeting,” Bothe said. “All that it is is an expansion of title since they failed to include that title within our original application. This year, we had our information correct for the cemetery, who was here and who our veterans are.”
Bothe said there is one veteran who is buried in the cemetery and that is Robert Hale Sowden, who was on the Battleship Missouri at the time of the signing of the peace treaty with Japan during World War II.

Also, Nathan Davis’ tenure with the Board of Directors was renewed until 2029 and Janice Gray gave out the treasurer’s report, which included the total balance of perpetual funds and general account of $54,387.34.

Mount Horeb is located at the intersection of Junction Prairie Fork Road & Mount Horeb Church Road, about 16 miles southwest of Montgomery City.

Mount Horeb Baptist Church was founded in 1833 by Samuel Boone, the nephew of Daniel Boone. The very first church house was built in Callaway County and was known as the Kettle Cabin. It first had 12 members, then it grew to 107. By 1859, a new and bigger church house was built at another location and had 225 members. But later, weather issues ruined the building, and another church house was built on the current site for less than $1,000.

The annual homecoming picnic at the Mount Horeb Historic site is scheduled for Aug. 1. It will celebrate the 193rd anniversary of the founding of the church.