| Cold Water Cemetery | |
| Refnum: | 04000462 |
| Added: | May 19, 2004 |
| Area: | 2 acres |
Cold Water Cemetery, originally the Patterson family burial ground, is a historic cemetery located at 15290 Old Halls Ferry Road in Old Jamestown in what was known as the Sinks, near Florissant, St. Louis County, Missouri.[1] The cemetery is 2 acres and was historically most active between 1809 and 1929, however, it is still in use.[2] It is owned and managed by the Missouri State Society Daughters of the American Revolution.[3] It is thought to be the oldest Protestant cemetery still in use, west of the Mississippi River.[4]
It has been listed as one of the National Register of Historic Places since May 19, 2004.[5]
John Patterson (1760–1839), of Scotch-Irish descent, was a Revolutionary War veteran who had emigrated from North Carolina; in 1797 he received a Spanish land grant in Upper Louisiana. There is conflicting information around the size of the original land grant, with estimates between 600 acres and 1500 acres. The cemetery began as a plot for the Patterson family, with the earliest burial estimated to be in 1809 for John Patterson's wife Keziah Horneday Patterson.[6] Around 1809, a log church was erected on the site, later the first location of Cold Water Church, now Salem Baptist Church. The church is no longer standing, but there is a memorial plaque.
In the 1970s a restoration effort took place to clean up the landscaping and repair broken or misplaced headstones.