News

Volunteers needed to fix historic cemetery buried by Helene

A tree trunk covers a headstone at the Edney Family Cemetery in Bat Cave, which remains covered with many trees blown down by Hurricane Helene in September 2024. [PHOTO BY TOBY LINVILLE]

By JENNIE GILES, Published: May 3, 2026

BAT CAVE — A historic cemetery in Bat Cave suffered major damage during Hurricane Helene. At least 10 trees fell into the cemetery. Trees, branches and debris cover the gravestones. Until the cemetery is cleared of trees and debris, it is unknown how many gravestones may have been broken or destroyed.

The Edney Family Cemetery at the corner of Edney Inn Road and U.S. 64 East contains the graves of two sons of Asa Edney and his wife, Sarah Mills Edney, daughter of William Mills: Ambrose J. Edney and Samuel J. Edney.

The cemetery also contains graves of descendants of Revolutionary War Patriot John Merrell, whose daughter Catherine, married Ambrose J Edney.

Numerous descendants of the Edney brothers have graves within the cemetery. Including unmarked fieldstones there was a total of 97 graves in the cemetery.

Descendants today number into the hundreds, including two current Henderson County commissioners, J. Michael Edney and Rebecca K. McCall, and two members of the Henderson County Cemetery Advisory Committee, Jay Jackson and Bud McCall.

A cemetery clean-up will take place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 9. Volunteers with chainsaws and wood cutting and hauling equipment are needed. Volunteers should have the ability to cut trees and/or drag brush. Waste wood will be loaded onto a trailer on Edney Inn Road. Volunteers should wear boots, long pants and long-sleeve shirts and bring eye protection, hearing protection and work gloves.

Volunteers can park along Edney Inn Road. Carpooling is recommended.

Patriots v. Torys

Brothers Ambrose J. Edney and Samuel J. Edney are descendants of William Mills and Ambrose Mills, who fought as Tories in the Revolutionary War. 

Catherine Merrell descends from Revolutionary War Patriots John Merrell and William Merrell. 

The marriage of Ambrose J. Edney and Catherine Merrell, and stories of their ancestors, makes for a famous Appalachian Mountain story passed down by Henderson County’s well-known Appalachian storyteller Forrest Lyda.

The story states that William Merrell was among the Patriots who hung Ambrose Mills, a Tory, after the Battle of Kings Mountain. Near the war’s end, the story relates that William Mills, son of Ambrose Mills, led the Tory “nightriders” that “kidnapped” William Merrell from his home and took him to the same site where Ambrose Mills was hung. William Merrell was never seen again.

A son of Patriot William Merrell, John Merrell, also fought as a Patriot in the Revolutionary War. John Merrell brought his family to live in the Fairview/Gerton area of today’s Buncombe and Henderson Counties.

Merrell’s daughter, Catherine, married Ambrose J. Edney, grandson of Tory William Mills (son of Tory Ambrose Mills).

Female descendants of the Edney family who have grave sites in the cemetery married into families with the surnames of Davenport, Robertson, Collins, Rhymer and more.

The Duvall family has graves in the cemetery. Louisa Duvall, the first postmaster of the Bat Cave Post Office, married Marcus L. “Mark” Edney. They built the Edney Inn for which the road is named. 

Samuel S. Enloe, son of Samuel J. Edney’s second wife, also has a grave in the cemetery.

The oldest legible grave stone dates from 1861; the most recent burial was in 1945.

To sign up for the cleaning or for more information, contact Toby Linville at tlinville@hendersoncountync.gov or (828) 694-6627.

* * * * *

Jennie Jones Giles was an award-winning reporter for the Times-News whose series on the state of historic cemeteries in the county led to the formation of the Cemetery Advisory Committee. Jennie has been a leading advocate for researching the history of the county’s historic cemeteries and preserving them. She is among the hundreds of county natives who can trace their origins to those buried in the Edney Family Cemetery.