A goodly part of what makes the northern Valley so special is that history is tucked away seemingly in every little nook, cranny, and corner.

Take, for example, an old Quaker graveyard nestled in a grove of trees and surrounded by modernity -- namely, the PolyOne plant, a Thrifty car rental outlet, and Jubal Early Drive.

Though The Star had written about this cemetery -- back in 1995 when a local Boy Scout, Brian Rhodes, undertook its renovation as part of his Eagle project -- I must confess I never knew it was there until local CPA and fellow Swirls aficionado Jim Riley made me aware of it.

And so, after driving past it countless times, it was not until this past Saturday morning, when Jim met me in the rain, that I actually laid eyes on it.

For Jim, it was more than an appreciation of local history that prompted him to become active in ongoing efforts to keep the graveyard maintained and in the public eye.

Jim, you see, is a Lupton on his mother's side, and the Luptons are one the oldest families in Frederick County. Like many of the other founding families of Frederick -- the Hollingsworths and the Parkinses, for instance -- the Luptons were Quakers. Jim grew up attending the Hopewell Friends Meeting near Clearbrook, where his grandmother, Victoria Lupton, taught Sunday school.

Thus, Jim was drawn to the cemetery behind PolyOne by a sense of kith and kin. For the longest time, he recalls, it was accessible only by walking up the railroad tracks from Papermill Road. It was a case of "unless you knew it was there, you would never know it was there." But then, in the early 1990s, came Jubal Early Drive -- and easier access.

The graveyard, final resting place of many of the antebellum Hollingsworths and Parkinses, dates back to the 18th century, thus making it one of the oldest -- if not the oldest -- in Winchester. It sits on one of the three original tracts purchased by Isaac Parkins in 1735 and is but a long stone's throw to the east from the site of the Parkins ancestral home, first known as "Milltown" and later renamed "Willow Lawn." Further to the northeast, more than a mile away, is "Abram's Delight," home of the Hollingsworths.

The passage of time has caused many of the burial sites to sink, and grass and other flora now surround many of the aged grave markers. But within the protective stone wall built in 1930s, many of the inscriptions remain clearly recognizable, especially to those well-versed in local history.

The largest grave marker belongs to a Hollingsworth -- Isaac by name, but not the Isaac Hollingsworth associated with the construction of "Abram's Delight." This Isaac, a cousin, was born in 1771. He married Hannah Parkins, who is also buried in the cemetery.

In his will, dated May 5, 1815, John Parkins left "that spot of ground called and known by the name of burying ground on my land wherein my parents and many others of our family have been Entered . . . for the use and . . . disposal of the Society of Friends . . ."

In 1996, the cemetery was deeded to the trustees of Hopewell Meeting and Winchester Center Meeting, and thus, for the foreseeable future, will stand as testimony to the Quaker faith and those hardy pioneers who seeded it.

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Adrian O'Connor is editorial page editor at The Winchester Star.