The Confederate Memorial Gates in Mayfield are historical monuments at the entrances to Maplewood Cemetery in
Mayfield, Kentucky
Mayfield is a home rule–class city and the county seat of Graves County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 10,017 as of the 2020 United States Census.
History
19th century
Mayfield is in the center of the Jackson Purchase, an ...
. The monuments were the second monument in Mayfield established by the
United Daughters of the Confederacy
The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...
; the first being the Confederate Memorial in Mayfield in downtown Mayfield. The gates were the third choice for monuments, chosen mostly due to their relatively low cost. The UDC intended them to not only be a monument to the residents of Graves County who served the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confede ...
, but also a civic improvement.
Description
The monuments are three pairs of
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
ed poured
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most ...
gateposts, six in total, each. When closed. the main pair's gates read "The United Daughters of the Confederacy Memorial". The main pair have bronze plaques. The main pair of gateposts are each two feet wide and ten feet tall, with 27 feet between them. The center pair has no road between them; they are three feet wide, ten feet tall, and 285 feet away from the main gates. The third set are 330 feet away from the center gates, two feet wide and ten feet tall.Brent p.1
National Register of Historic Places
On July 17, 1997, the posts and gates were one of sixty-one different monuments to the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
in Kentucky placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...
Multiple Property Submission
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. One other monument on the list, the Confederate Memorial in Mayfield, is nearby in downtown Mayfield; the only other one in Graves County is the
Camp Beauregard Memorial in Water Valley
The Camp Beauregard Memorial, outside Water Valley, Kentucky on Kentucky state road 2422 northeast of town, marks the site of a Confederate States Army encampment named for General P. G. T. Beauregard. The camp was situated to protect the right fl ...
. In Maplewood Cemetery are the
Wooldridge Monuments
The Wooldridge Monuments are a series of historical monuments located in Maplewood Cemetery of Mayfield, Kentucky. They were built for Colonel Henry G. Wooldridge, to commemorate family members and other loved ones of his life, from 1892 until Wo ...
, also on the National Register. The only other gateway on the list is the
Confederate Memorial Gateway in Hickman
The Confederate Memorial Gateway in Hickman, Kentucky is a historic cemetery gateway in Fulton County, Kentucky. It was funded in 1913 by the Private Robert Tyler Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.