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Washington Evening Journal
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History, hymns and bluegrass heard at heritage church service
RIVERSIDE — On a bluff nestled between a small cornfield and the Iowa River, a few miles southeast of Riverside, members of the Salem Church of God hosted a low-key service on Sunday at a spiritual site that predates Scripture itself.
The location, known as Grave Yard Point, was used as a burial ground thrice in the last 3,000 years: first for mound-building Indigenous people, then for pre-Columbian Native Americans — likely the Meskwaki Tribe — several hundred years ago, and eventually for a family of white settlers who died in 1855 and 1856, according to their epitaphs.
“I would say it’s a real special site,” said Michael Zahs, the foremost expert on Washington County’s history and a member of the church’s congregation. “Not grim, just a very spiritual site. I’ve had people get up here and start crying, because they can feel the spiritualness of the site.”
The burial mounds themselves have carefully layered soil types, the religious meaning of which has been lost to history, according to Zahs. The site is also an active habitat for pileated woodpeckers, with a gorgeous view of the surrounding wilderness.
A caravan of 27 cars traveled from Salem Church of God at 9 a.m. to meet at the location, which is on private property and usually closed to the public. Some guests rode up the steep hill in a tractor-pulled trailer, while others hiked a grassy path on foot to reach the service, accompanied by live music from the Great Blue Grass Herons.
By 10 a.m., dozens of voices could be heard from atop the hill near the Johnson-Louisa-Washington county lines, singing hymns accompanied by banjos and an upright bass. Attendees used lawn chairs in place of pews, while speakers preached from behind a lightweight podium carried up the slope.
Minutes before the service began, Lay Pastor Nathan Brown said he could feel a distinct energy in the air, as he did at the last such heritage service several years ago.
“There’s been a connection, ever since the first people set foot on this, (they) felt a connection to this place, and there’s just a feeling that’s kind of indescribable,” he said. “It just has a different feel. And it’s a destination, you have to make an effort to come up here.”
Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com
