Markley Cemetery began in 1881 with the interment of M. C. Norfleet beside the old Plum Grove School. By 1890 the burial ground had fallen into neglect, and men from the surrounding rural community, including J. C. Calvin, J. W. Cox, R. E. Currie, S. G. Dean, Nelson Owen, M. A. Stewart, Andy and Ike Tinney, J. M. Wallace, and W. M. Watson, organized an annual Graveyard Working Day on the first Saturday in May. In the early years, people came by wagon and horseback, with some camping overnight, and after the cleaning was finished bouquets of wildflowers were placed on the graves. About 1900 the settlement was named Markley in honor of A. C. Markley, an area landowner who had served in the frontier army during the Indian wars. In 1925 the observance was changed to the first Sunday in May. Although a perpetual care program has been initiated, the decoration ceremonies have continued as an annual social event that preserves a heritage of community cohesiveness and participation, and the graves decorated each year include those of thirteen Confederate veterans of the Civil War: John F. Bussey, J. C. Butler, Jessie Byrd, R. E. Currie, George J. Lucas, J. D. Mankins, J. L. McDaniel, J. L. Norfleet, Nelson Owen, J.C. Stanley, James Stinnett, Cates Thompson, and David White.