History & local legend
Richard Slyhoff’s grave lies on the property now known as Bill’s Hide-A-Way Cottages in Jefferson County. Local legend says Slyhoff selected his burial place for a very particular reason: he hoped a huge boulder would conceal him from the devil on Judgment Day.
Slyhoff died in January 1867. In the version preserved by the Jefferson County Genealogy Project, his instructions were followed with difficulty. The men digging beneath the boulder had to work on their knees to make room for the coffin, leaving his grave sheltered by the overhanging stone.
Years later, one of those men returned. He found the grave exposed and enough room to stand upright and walk around it. The boulder appeared to have shifted uphill, away from the burial.
