This micro cache is located at the Browder Cemetery (which is at
the junction of Hwy 8 and Brook Cove Road). The gravel road going
into the cemetery area is a private drive for the cemetery
visitors...not for the homes close by. You can park anywhere in the
circle that surrounds the cemetery. Hopefully, you’ll be
there when no-one else is around, but if not, please use stealth.
While you’re there, notice a huge grave where Charlie
Lawson and his family are buried. If you’re not familiar with
Charlie Lawson, here are a few details as posted by Wikipedia.
“Charles Davis Lawson (May 10, 1886–December 25,
1929) was a Stokes County tobacco farmer who is remembered for
having committed one of the most notorious mass murders in the
state's history on Christmas Day 1929.
In 1929, shortly before Christmas, Charlie Lawson took his family
(37-year-old wife Fannie and their children: Arthur, 18; Marie, 17;
Carrie, 12; Maybell; 7, James, 4; Raymond, 2; and Mary Lou, 4
months) into town to buy new clothes and to have a family portrait
taken. Since they were far from wealthy, this seemed unusual. The
new clothes ultimately became burial outfits. On that day he began
the slaughter with his daughters, Carrie and Maybell, who were
setting out to their uncle and aunt's house. Lawson waited for them
by the tobacco barn; when they were in range, he shot them with a
shotgun, then ensured that they were dead by bludgeoning them. He
then placed the bodies in the tobacco barn.
Afterwards, he returned to the house and shot Fannie, who was on
the porch. As soon as the gun was fired, Marie, who was inside,
screamed, while the two small boys, James and Raymond, attempted to
find a hiding place. Lawson shot Marie and then found and shot the
two boys. Lastly, he killed the baby, Mary Lou. After the murders,
he went into the nearby woods and, a few hours later, shot himself.
The only survivor was his eldest son, 19 year-old Arthur, whom he
had sent on an errand just before starting his deadly work. The
bodies of the family members were found with their arms crossed and
rocks under their heads. The gunshot signaling Charlie Lawson's own
suicide was heard by the many people who learned of the gruesome
event on the property and had already gathered there. A police
officer who was with Charlie Lawson ran down and found Charlie dead
and letters to his parents. As footprints encircled the tree it was
supposed that he had been pacing around the tree prior to taking
his life.”