According to local oral history, this community graveyard began in 1872 when Jemima Guest Gentry, who had mentioned to her family that a nearby cedar grove would make a nice cemetery plot, died on June 8, 1872. Her family obtained permission from landowners James C. and Lucretia Harris Waldrop to bury Jemima at her chosen site. The Waldrops deeded the land to the community in 1885, and subsequent land donations enlarged the burial ground. As the final resting place of many pioneer settlers, Waldrop cemetery serves as a reflection of the area's heritage.