Name:   10toLife - Subject:   Young's Island Date:   8/9/2016 10:31:16 PM (updated 8/9/2016 10:33:08 PM)

Since reading about the history of Lake Martin, Alex City and Dadeville----I have been fascinated with the history of the area before land was flooded and what now lies beneath the waters of Lake Martin. I have been looking for information on the Young house that burned in the 1990s.....and the gravesites. There is little to no information on the internet. I did talk to the new Bay Pine Marina owner and he told me it was OK to go on the island as Mr.Young did not mind -- just no camping.

So after weeks of wanting to do so -- my daughters and I finally did go onto the island.  It was very interesting. You could see where the fire had been. The graveyard was very old and had a lot more burial sites than I had imagined...although there is no way to tell who is there. There were 3-4 graves that were better marked but still hard to read. We took pictures, but due to a pretty bad storm heading our way, we had to leave before we were ready. I never saw anything resembling a house or what was left of a house, but did not go further than the gravesites.  We saw an armadillo just tottering about. Poor guy-- hope he has other armadillos to hang out with. We also saw, near a lagoon area, a ton of bottles and trash that had washed up and gotten caught there. (we will go back and clean that up on Lake Martin clean up day in the spring)

Does anyone know anything about the house or who exactly is buried at the burial ground?  I thought I read on a stone a Dr Young was buried there. I have not had an opportunity to really study the pictures ....but I will this weekend. I am assuming the house had no electric? I love history and geneology. I plan to go back-- when there is not a storm looming-- and spend more time looking at the stones to see if I can make anything out and also try to find the remnant of the house that was once there. I know the Ferry operated near there but I am not sure how close to the house the river was. I plan to put the graves on Find a Grave if I can figure out who is there. I think it is an important part of Lake Martin and a founding family's history that should not be forgotten. Any info or stories would be appreciated.