Machpelah Cemetery is a historic site that dates back to just a few years after the founding of the city. It is the final resting place of many notable figures, including victims of the Saluda steamboat explosion and soldiers from the Civil War. The cemetery features unique funerary monuments and ironwork from a local foundry.

Machpelah Cemetery was originally known as the Waddell Family Cemetery. The first burial there was in 1839. In 1849, William Bradford Waddell donated his family’s cemetery, along with other nearby land, to form Machpelah.

There is also a memorial for the mass grave of the victims of the Saluda steamboat explosion of April 9, 1852. The Saluda carried Mormon immigrants from England and Wales who were traveling to Utah.

Among the prominent citizens buried at Machpelah are Stephen Wentworth (founder of Wentworth Military Academy), Ike Skelton (representative to U.S. Congress and chairman of the Armed Services Committee), William Waddell (one of the founders and operators of the Pony Express), and Gilead Rupe (listed as the first white settler of the area).

Current burial information can be obtained by leaving a message for the volunteer sexton at (660) 232-4231.

In 2022, Machpelah Cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Click here for detailed information.

In October of each year, the Lexington Historical Association holds a candlelight tour of the cemetery as their annual fundraiser. Lexington residents introduce visitors to the ghosts of Lexington’s past.