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Our 43RD Year • Issue No. 24 • June 18, 2026
Kings Mountain group working to restore old Goforth Cemetery By Alan Hodge A small cemetery in Kings Mountain with a unique Revolutionary War twist is getting some badly needed freshening upand hoping for more. The tiny Goforth graveyard is located in a shadowy patch of woods and underbrush on Afton Dr., just off Shelby Rd. There are just over twenty graves there dating back to the late 1700s. Some of the graves are unmarked. Some have broken tombstones. A few of the original stones have been veneered with modern reproductions. The whole scene is one from a time long-forgotten. Maybe not. A group of local history buffs called “Hampton’s Brigade” and headed by Margaret Ledford and Don Jenkins is working towards getting the cemetery ready for our nation’s 250 anniversary this July 4th. They’ve been aided by Boy Scouts from Troop 92 based at Central United Methodist Church led by Scoutmaster John Kaiser and including Eagle Scout Dennis Bolin. A recent day saw the scouts raking leaves, picking up fallen branches, clearing weeds, and
Memorial stone for Pvt. Isaac West Goforth killed at the Civil War Battle of Antietam.
Closeup of Preston Goforth’s which was refurbished by the American Leg=ion sometime in the past.
Boy Scout Troop 92 leader John Kaiser (left), DAR member Margaret Ledford, and local historian Don Jenkins stand at the grave of Revolutionary War soldier Preston Goforth, Jr. at the Goforth Cemetery on Afton Dr. (Photo by Alan Hodge) in general tidying up the plot. “We plan on the boys attending the 250th anniversary cer-
The Goforth Cemetery. (Photo by Alan Hodge)
emony here,” said Kaiser. The event at the cemetery is tentatively set for July 3rd. “We would like to have someone blow “Taps” at the event,” said Jenkins. “Perhaps a Marine.” The hope is one day the cemetery can get additional attention to its appearance. “We would like to get a flagpole and some benches,” said Ledford. “We need to plant grass too. An historical marker would be a dream.” All the grave markers at the cemetery are intriguing,
Troop 92 Boy Scouts Luke Howell (right) and Tripp Shannon at the recent Goforth Cemetery cleanup day. (Photo provided) including one that’s placed in memoriam to Isaac West Goforth who was a member of the 49th NC CSA and killed at the September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam, Maryland. However, it’s the stone at the grave of Preston Goforth, Jr., and the story behind his interment, that marks one of the most
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compelling and intriguing of local Revolutionary War tales. Ledford, a descendant of Goforth, explained. “The story is that during the Battle of Kings Mountain on Oct. 7, 1780, Preston, who was a Patriot, and his brother John Preston, who was a Tory, somehow See GOFORTH, Page 2