A tribute of the bicentennial of the death of Judge Samuel McDowell and the McDowell family reunion took place this past Thursday through Sunday at several locations around Boyle County. At 9:30 a.m. Saturday, McDowell descendants, as well as members of the local and regional Daughters of the American Revolution; city and county officials; and members representing several chapters of the Sons of the American Revolution met in Bellevue Cemetery for a memorial and remembrance service at the graves of Samuel and Mary McDowell.

An unveiling and dedication ceremony for the newly placed gravestone for the couple also took place. Tim McDowell, a guest speaker for the dedication said, “We have a tendency to forget… We establish memorials we can go to and remember.” Tim noted that over the course of 200 years the markers for Judge McDowell and his wife Mary McClung McDowell deteriorated, and it’s difficult to even read their names. Therefore a suitable gravestone was needed. Samuel McDowell fought in the Revolutionary War, “and is a founding father of this nation, this commonwealth and this city… Samuel McDowell will not be forgotten.”