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283:, had gained popularity in France, England, and the United States, as planners in various large cities began building larger, more elaborate cemeteries in their respective cities' outskirts and suburbs. During this period, Knoxville's leaders sought such a cemetery for Knoxville, as many had incorrectly believed the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery (near the center of town) had caused a deadly
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One of the most notable sculptures is the Horne monument, which is a near life-size statue of a
Confederate soldier guarding the graves of Confederate veterans William and John Horne. A statue carved by Italian sculptor Antonio Bebelotti graces the graves of the parents of art collector Eleanor Swan
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Unlike many modern cemeteries, where the gravemarkers are carved from granite (which is more durable), most of the decorative monuments at Old Gray are carved from marble. While not as durable as granite, marble is softer, and thus lends itself to more elaborate designs. Victorian angels—guardians
340:
Old Gray
Cemetery is shaped like an awkward pentagon, with a "handle" opening toward its main (eastern) entrance on Broadway. Secondary entrances are located in the northern corner along Tyson Street and in the western corner along Cooper Street. A paved avenue connects all three entrances, and
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The site of Old Gray
Cemetery was previously pastureland located just outside Knoxville's northwestern city limits. Only a mile from the city's downtown area, it was considered ideal for a suburban cemetery. The first land for the cemetery was purchased in December 1849, and landscape architect
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The cemetery's administrative office is located just inside the main gate. Beyond the entrance, the main avenue splits around a circle, which once contained the 20-foot (6.1 m) Albers
Fountain. The cemetery's perimeter is partially surrounded by a low stone wall, and partially by an iron
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The cemetery was dedicated on June 1, 1852, with the sale of the first 40 grave lots. The first burial had, however, occurred on July 15 of the previous year, after a local man named
William Martin died of wounds from a cannon explosion during the city's
216:, United States. Established in 1850, the 13.47-acre (5.45 ha) cemetery contains the graves of some of Knoxville's most influential citizens, ranging from politicians and soldiers, to artists and activists. The cemetery is also noted for the
427:
Cornelius Coffin
Williams (1879–1957), father of playwright Tennessee Williams, is buried in the cemetery, and his funeral is discussed in Williams's "The Man in The Overstuffed Chair." Eliza Boond Hodgson (1810–1870), mother of author
905:
432:, is also buried at Old Gray, her grave being one of the few surviving relicts of Burnett's years in the city. Author Peter Taylor mentions a 1916 funeral at a "Knoxville cemetery" for a fictitious politician in his novel,
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paved roadways twist and turn throughout the cemetery. Roads, trees, and grave plots all follow the natural topography. The
National Register-listed St. John's Lutheran Church stands opposite the cemetery's main entrance.
420:. The family plots of two bitter Civil War rivals, pro-Unionist William "Parson" Brownlow and pro-secessionist John Hervey Crozier, are separated only by a roadway. Two other Civil War adversaries, Union Army major
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For years, visitors to the Old Gray
Cemetery have commented on the various "adversaries" buried within sight of one another. Among the most well-known of these are Knoxville businessman
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of 1904. In 1912, the cemetery witnessed one of the largest funeral processions ever conducted in the South, when some 40,000 mourners attended the burial of former
Tennessee governor
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fence, with double-iron gates and marble posts at the main entrance, and walk-through gates at the secondary entrances. The cemetery's northwest wall is shared with the adjacent
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monuments—carved to depict undressed tree logs—where were given to the order's members as part of a life insurance policy. Elaborate crosses are also common, including several
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Frederick
Douglass was hired to come up with a groundplan. At the suggestion of Reese's wife, Henrietta, the cemetery was named after English poet Thomas Gray, author of
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in 1838. In February 1850, a board of trustees, led by East Tennessee University president William B. Reese, was appointed to buy land and sell lots for a new cemetery.
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235:, a mid-19th-century style that sought the transition of graveyards from urban churchyards to quiet suburban plots. Unlike its crowded predecessor, the
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and Confederate colonel Henry Ashby, are also buried at Old Gray, the latter having been killed in a scuffle with Camp in downtown Knoxville in 1868.
239:, Old Gray features spacious graves, grand monuments, and extensive vegetation, and its layout bears more resemblance to a public park. Playwright
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70:
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celebration. Martin's grave was not marked, but a small marble memorial in the northwest section of the cemetery recalls the incident.
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marble sculpture and elaborate carvings adorning many of the grave markers and headstones. In 1996, the cemetery was added to the
386:. The obelisk of Frank S. Mead, carved by Knoxville sculptor D. H. Geddes, was used on advertisements by Mead's marble company.
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614:(1761–1835), pioneer surveyor who laid out Knoxville in the 1790s; grave moved here by his descendants in 1904
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pilot who was shot down and killed while patrolling the North Sea in 1918 and later became the namesake of
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675:(1827–1904), Knoxville mayor and businessman, established Staub's Theater, Knoxville's first opera house
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494:(1826–1862; Lot 43), U.S. congressman, president of the failed Bank of East Tennessee in the 1850s
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president Thomas O'Connor, all three of whom were killed in an 1882 shootout discussed in
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Information obtained from William Martin monument, Old Gray Cemetery, April 2010.
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512:(1877–1941) U.S. congressman, football coach (University of Tennessee 1902–1903)
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mentions Old Gray in his short story, "The Man in the Overstuffed Chair," and
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753:(Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1999), pp. xvii–xxii, 3–7.
482:(1839–1920), Knoxville businessman, founder of the Coal Creek Coal Company
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524:(1851–1926; Lot 302), women's suffragist leader, founder of Knoxville's
506:(1813–1901), Knoxville businessman, founder of the city's Board of Trade
471:(1805–1877; Lot 57), Tennessee governor and U.S. senator, editor of the
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642:(1864–1936), Knoxville businessman, founder of Republic Marble Company
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Many of the cemetery's early burials were victims of Knoxville's 1854
602:(1861–1951), educator, social reformer, and ordained Baptist minister
906:
Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee
596:(his name appears as "Joseph Alexander Mabry, Sr." on his monument)
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epidemic. The cemetery also contains several dozen victims of the
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The Marble City: A Photographic Tour of Knoxville's Graveyards
926:
National Register of Historic Places in Knoxville, Tennessee
681:(1820–1907; Lot 488), attorney, judge, and economic promoter
576:(1835–1907), Mayor of Knoxville and founder of Kern's Bakery
231:(1716–1771), Old Gray Cemetery is an example of a so-called
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Tennessee Williams, "The Man In the Overstuffed Chair."
533:(1861–1937), Thoroughbred racehorse trainer who won the
633:(1828–1907), Knoxville railroad magnate, founder of
608:(1814–1882), U.S. congressman and postmaster general
542:(1788–1871; Lot 186), post-Civil War Speaker of the
366:of the dead—are the most common type of sculpture.
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518:(1832–1900), newspaper editor and state legislator
440:, which took place at Old Gray in 1912 (Lot 407).
382:Audigier, who obtained the statue while living in
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769:(New York: New Directions Books, 1985), p. xvi.
588:(1826–1882), Knoxville businessman, builder of
654:(1839–1928), Knoxville mayor, founder of the
16:Historic cemetery in Tennessee, United States
8:
806:. 3 September 2008. Retrieved: 2 May 2010.
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916:Tourist attractions in Knoxville, Tennessee
336:The southwest section of Old Gray in Autumn
267:Marble sculpture atop Ora Brewster monument
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522:Margaret Elizabeth Crozier "Lizzie" French
406:, his son Joseph Alexander Mabry III, and
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921:Protected areas of Knox County, Tennessee
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38:U.S. National Register of Historic Places
320:(Taylor's grave has since been moved to
275:movement, driven largely by the fame of
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648:(1812–1873; Lot 882), U.S. congressman
465:(1853–1925; Lot 916), Knoxville artist
21:
500:(1812–1889; Lot 35), U.S. congressman
294:Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
251:alludes to the cemetery in his book,
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222:National Register of Historic Places
936:Cemeteries established in the 1850s
693:(1863–1947), Professor of Sociology
696:Charles McGhee Tyson (1889–1918),
663:(1831–1902), Knoxville businessman
544:Tennessee House of Representatives
237:First Presbyterian Church Cemetery
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911:Geography of Knoxville, Tennessee
785:(Scruffy Books, 1995), pp. 56–57.
212:is the second-oldest cemetery in
901:1850 establishments in Tennessee
488:(1846–1926), Confederate general
453:(1836–1868), Confederate colonel
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725:(1810–1865), U.S. congressman.
626:Treasurer of the United States
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719:(1879–1958), Knoxville artist
687:(1837–1890), U.S. congressman
669:(1812–1869), U.S. congressman
551:(1836–1891), U.S. congressman
492:William Montgomery Churchwell
459:(1857–1919), U.S. congressman
182:Knoxville and Knox County MPS
110:Show map of the United States
469:William G. "Parson" Brownlow
318:Robert "Fiddlin' Bob" Taylor
19:United States historic place
886:Knoxville MPC Historic List
881:Old Gray Cemetery Home Page
804:Old Gray Cemetery – History
685:Jacob Montgomery Thornburgh
624:football standout and 22nd
586:Joseph Alexander Mabry, Jr.
404:Joseph Alexander Mabry, Jr.
347:Knoxville National Cemetery
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783:Knoxville's Secret History
713:general and U.S. senator.
582:(1861–1938), photographer
447:(1794–1869), U.S. senator
187:NRHP reference
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434:In the Tennessee Country
408:Mechanics' National Bank
253:In the Tennessee Country
569:University of Tennessee
510:Hubert Frederick Fisher
430:Frances Hodgson Burnett
417:Life on the Mississippi
398:Parson Brownlow obelisk
227:Named for English poet
723:Joseph Lanier Williams
631:Charles McClung McGhee
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559:Frank S. Mead monument
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314:New Market train wreck
281:Père Lachaise Cemetery
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635:Lawson McGhee Library
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445:Alexander O. Anderson
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153:35.97389°N 83.92472°W
85:Show map of Tennessee
702:McGhee Tyson Airport
691:William Isaac Thomas
565:Thomas William Humes
372:Woodmen of the World
214:Knoxville, Tennessee
126:Knoxville, Tennessee
679:Oliver Perry Temple
667:William Henry Sneed
646:Thomas A. R. Nelson
592:, helped establish
535:1907 Kentucky Derby
531:William Henry Fizer
498:John Hervey Crozier
158:35.97389; -83.92472
149: /
640:Frank Seymour Mead
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438:Robert Love Taylor
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390:Notable interments
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271:By the 1840s, the
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247:-winning novelist
241:Tennessee Williams
767:Collected Stories
661:Edward J. Sanford
656:Knoxville Journal
590:Mabry-Hazen House
480:Eldad Cicero Camp
457:Richard W. Austin
422:Eldad Cicero Camp
210:Old Gray Cemetery
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30:Old Gray Cemetery
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698:World War I
673:Peter Staub
618:Lee McClung
451:Henry Ashby
229:Thomas Gray
156: /
132:Coordinates
895:Categories
730:References
574:Peter Kern
412:Mark Twain
144:83°55′29″W
141:35°58′26″N
353:Monuments
867:, p. 17.
854:, p. 32.
841:, p. 30.
828:, p. 15.
368:Obelisks
285:epidemic
194:96001402
120:Location
310:cholera
259:History
58:obelisk
328:Layout
56:McGhee
277:Paris
169:Built
622:Yale
384:Rome
172:1850
414:'s
324:.)
279:'s
189:No.
178:MPS
897::
790:^
774:^
758:^
738:^
378:.
349:.
297:.
224:.
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