In 1876, Philip David Duren bought 390.5 acres here and built a log home. He later brought his family, including newborn daughter Willie Lee, from Houston county to their new home. Willie Lee died in Sep. 1878 and was the first burial here. In 1893, Duren deeded the surrounding five acres “for school purposes;” Duren school operated until 1947 and Pompey Mountain Church still serves the area. In 1912, Duren reaffirmed public use of the site in a new deed which stipulated free burial plots and a church open to different denominations. Historic cemetery features include metal and stone gates, curbing, interior fencing, and limestone, marble and granite gravestones. Duren cemetery now numbers several hundred burials.