On a steep hillside looking over the countryside and mountains of western Wythe County, this early burying ground has a large collection of traditional German gravestones. Approximately fifty monuments within the Kimberling Lutheran Cemetery date from the period 1800-1850 and are embellished, in most instances, with a single, high-relief motif–a heart, a cross, a six-pointed star, or some vegetal form–nearly always framed by a double band. Most of the inscriptions are in English, illustrating the acculturation of the German settlers. The use of these distinctly German-style gravestones halted in the 1850s; those erected from then on are indistinguishable from those in non-German cemeteries. The present twin-towered Kimberling Lutheran church, dating from 1913, is the third on the site.