Lexington Missouri Machpelah Cemetery

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The Machpelah Cemetery in Lexington, Missouri is one of the oldest and continuously used cemeteries in the state. It began as the Waddell Family cemetery in 1839, when the first burial occurred. In 1849 Bradford Waddell donated the cemetery to the Missouri General Assembly, which renamed it the Machpelah Cemetery.

Throughout its history, the cemetery has been the burial place for people from the town and for individuals who died while participating in notable events that occurred in Lexington like the Battle of Lexington. Soldiers fighting on the north and south were buried in the cemetery.

Prominent local figures are also buried at the cemetery included Stephen Wentworth, the founder of the Wentworth Military Academy, Gilead Rupe, the first settler of the area, and William Waddell, an original founder of the Pony Express. The cemetery is also home to monuments and memorials including one to the victims of the Saluda Steamboat explosion that occurred April 9th of 1852.