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✣ Jerusalem Western Salisbury

Or, the Confusion of Tambour Yokel, Part One ✣

It’s finally October, and I rejoice in the Spooky Season ambiance! Although I explore cemeteries year round and find them more serene than creepy, when I learned about two Lehigh Valley graveyards linked to a dark folktale, I wanted to save them until October rolled around.

The Jerusalem Western Salisbury Cemetery turned up in my search for Revolutionary War era graveyards. By some accounts, it is linked to a gruesome ballad written by Joseph Henry Dubbs in 1888 called “The Legend of Tambour Yokel,” which is in turn based on older stories. The eponymous drummer of the poem, whose real name has been lost to time, returns from the recent war for Independence and seeks to exact revenge on a foe. At a local tavern, Tambour discovers his rival perished in battle, but that doesn’t deter him from marching to the graveyard with plans to raise the man from the dead to fight him. The locals followed, eager for spectacle, but stayed outside the cemetery boundary. They heard screaming and cries for help from within, but they dared not enter until the next morning when Tambour’s body was found, torn to bloody shreds. It was said that he only survived the war himself by making a pact with the devil, and it was thought that it was the devil who dismembered him that night. But is this where Tambour Yokel met his fate?

Jerusalem Western Salisbury is the final resting place of many Revolutionary War veterans, and the first log church at the site was erected in 1741, which fits the time period of the ballad. It also sits on a hill, which is one of the few identifying details mentioned in the poem. Perhaps not surprisingly though, the church’s website doesn’t mention a link with this sinister tale (Cemetery Association).

It seems there is confusion between this cemetery and the similarly-named Eastern Salisbury Jerusalem Cemetery, aka the Morgenland Cemetery. They are located approximately six miles apart in the same township. Some sources, including Ghost Stories of the Lehigh Valley Book Two, place the tale at this cemetery, while others locate it at Morgenland. Adams cites a 1976 booklet by William L.F. Schmehl on Salisbury’s history as the source of the legend’s placement at the Western graveyard, which also claims that “[a]t the close of the 18th century, when the log structure became abandoned and unsafe, the church was abandoned.” However, this church’s history doesn’t record a period of abandonment (Highlights: History and Renovations), while Morgenland’s does.

The Old Cemetery, which would be contemporary with the legend, is dotted with conifers which lend dappled shade and located behind the larger church. It and the churches on site (Jerusalem Lutheran Church is the smaller building) are encircled by Devonshire Road. In front of the buildings, across the street, is the newer wing of the cemetery. For what it’s worth, I didn’t sense any lingering miasma here. Stay tuned for Part Two on Morgenland cemetery!

In roughly the center of the Old Cemetery sit three rustic fieldstones which belong to the Roth family. Anna Margaret Roth’s headstone is especially noteworthy as per historian Joshua Arthur Fink, “it is said to be the oldest tombstone on any Lutheran or Reformed Church Cemetery in Lehigh County that can still be read in its entirety” (History Highlights: One for the History Books). Although not listed on the stone itself, her year of death was 1746.

It seemed to me that Heinrich Roth’s memorial was left incomplete as it lists his birth year of 1688, but not that of his death. A single character, which appears to be an I, is placed tantalizingly on the fifth line as if the carver stopped mid-inscription. However, church historians state the lower portion has simply worn off with time and his death date is unknown.

I was really charmed by the headstone of Georg Michael Hittel (1714-1786) with its double tulip adornment. It seemed the cicadas were too, as at least two had chosen it as the perfect place to molt. One had just emerged as I visited. Born in Württemberg, Germany, Georg served in the Revolutionary War and fathered at least 12 children.

For more information on this individual:
➺ Find A Grave
➺ Ancestry
➺ Family Search

There were several headstones in this style: narrow with a semi-circular top, a horizontal band, and another arched design below. These all seem to date from the late 1700s. At least one of them had an accompanying foot stone.

➺ 1 & 2: Anna Catharina Schmeirer (1754-1777)
➺ 3: Johan Gorg Hamer (1727-1767)
➺ 4 & 5: Matheus Van Buskirk (1776-1778)

Across Devonshire Road from the Old Cemetery sits a more expansive wing with newer graves. This trio of headstones were in a row. I believe the inset rectangle on all of them once held a photograph of the deceased.

➺ 1: Oliver J Johnson (1842-1864)
➺ 2: Elvina C Barner (1838-1889)
➺ 3: Stephen Barner (1835-1877)

✣ Additional resources: ✣
➺ Dubbs, Joseph Henry. Home Ballads and Metrical Verses. 1888. ISBN 9781343070004. 26-28.
➺ Adams III, Charles J. Ghost Stories of the Lehigh Valley Book Two. Wyomissing, PA: Exeter House Books. ISBN 9781880683. 38-43.
➺ History at Jerusalem Western Salisbury - Includes some fantastic articles on specific graves and even one on some of the tombstone cutters
➺ Find A Grave: Jerusalem Western Salisbury Church Cemetery
➺ Waymarking: The Legend of Tambour Yokel
➺ Read the “The Legend of Tambour Yokel”

✣ 3441 Devonshire Rd. Allentown, PA 18103 • (Western) Salisbury Township, Lehigh County ✣
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Location: Jerusalem Western Salisbury Church Cemetery

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