Long-neglected cemetery gets much-needed facelift
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Up for consideration were the old city cemetery on High Street and the First United Methodist Church that dates to 1886, both of which were being considered for the National Register of Historic Places.
While both are important to historians, it’s no secret the cemetery has been neglected throughout the years, making sudden widespread attention to it unusual.
“Our McMinnville and Warren County fathers are there,” Warren County Genealogical Association President and volunteer Almetia Cunningham said of the importance to the community. “There’s two church founders down there and it has been so neglected and forsaken it was just disgraceful.”
That’s what prompted Cunningham and others to take action about two years ago, when a group of about 25 to 30 people spent time working at the site after the genealogical association decided to do something about its condition. The process has been arduous, Cunningham admits, but worthwhile.
For historian Jimmy Haley, the cemetery has always captured his interest. He said he remembers visiting the place with his father as a boy and hoping to one day clean it up. While he has stayed true to that goal, Haley also has attained detailed knowledge, which he provided without hesitation.
“Had it not been for those people, there wouldn’t be a McMinnville,” Haley said of the historical significance to the community.
“It wouldn’t be located where it’s at or have the history that it does, and I just think out of honor for those people who did all they did to make McMinnville what it is, it’s a befitting memorial for what they did,” he added of National Register status.
The cemetery was originally located outside city limits on what was then called River Street. The nearest cemetery was at Liberty Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Haley said he interviewed the late Indian chief White Eagle, who told him the cemetery was once considered holy land by the Indians, but could never substantiate those claims.
Samuel Colville was the first burial in 1813 and many of McMinnville’s most prominent citizens are buried there. Among them are: General Benjamin Jefferson Hill, a respected leader of the Confederate Army and operator of the former Warren House Hotel; Josiah Morford, a Princeton-educated businessman and civic leader and L.D. Mercer, a businessman who helped to start Central Church of Christ.
Confederate soldiers were buried there, as well as several black citizens, whose graves went unmarked. Other unmarked graves included John and Beersheba Cain. The resort spring is named for her and their home later became the Warren House and Sedberry Hotel, Haley noted.
By the end of the Civil War, the old city cemetery became almost full and the city bought land at Riverside Cemetery in 1878 from James P. Thompson. Many families moved their loved ones from High Street to Riverside, and the older cemetery began to become neglected and vandalized. The last known burial was said to have taken place in 1938.
The back section of the cemetery is where citizens have initiated clean-up efforts recently, where much of it was grown over. Other problems have been falling limbs, blamed for breaking headstones in the past.
About two years ago, Cunningham approached Haley about attempting to restore the cemetery. His predictions were grim.
“Almetia wanted to get the cemetery on the National Register. I didn’t think it would qualify,” he said. “But after I took the Tennessee Historical Commission people down there, they fell in love with the place and its history.”
Obtaining National Register status is not an easy process, but once obtained, both the cemetery and the church must maintain their historic look and future changes cannot compromise their integrity.
“I have hopes of it getting restored to its original beauty – what it deserves to be,” Cunningham said, noting more future work is planned and that there is still about $400 left from community donations. About $200 has gone toward headstone repairs so far.
Late Wednesday, the Tennessee Historical Commission proved Haley’s initial prediction wrong and approved both the cemetery and the church for National Register status.
“It’s approved, so it will go on pretty much to Washington. It will pretty much be a formality,” he said of the approval.
PHOTO INFO:
Left, Almetia Cunningham, Jimmy Haley and Tom Scott work to clean up an above-ground burial site at the old city cemetery.
Below, Local resident Tom Scott, looking dashing in his Civil War soldiers cap, stands by the final resting place of Confederate general Benjamin Jefferson Hill. (Charlie Johnson photos)