Special thanks goes out to my friend, Frank Murphy, for flagging me on a wonderful article this weekend by Marti Davis in the Knoxville News Sentinel about vintage cemeteries located within the Smoky Mountain National Park.
I had no idea such cemeteries existed. They are open to the public, under the condition of maintaining respectful manners while on the sacred ground, so this may be of particular interest to grave hunters spending part of their summer vacation in the area.
Graves keep history alive
Smoky Mountain plots offer glimpse of the past
By Marti Davis
KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Pittman Center Mayor Glen Cardwell, a former park ranger and Smoky Mountains native, shows park archaeologist Erik Kreusch, right, the graves of his kinfolk buried inside the park.
Roughly 160 cemeteries have been mapped inside the boundaries of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
"We get about three to six requests a year (for burials)," mostly in Cades Cove but also in Greenbriar, Elkmont, Fontana and, recently, in Cocke County, said Kreusch.
Pittman Center Mayor Glen Cardwell, a former park ranger and Smoky Mountains native, shows park archaeologist Erik Kreusch, right, the graves of his kinfolk buried inside the park. (Photo by Michael Patrick)
