Middle Tennessee cemetery features graves 2 centuries old

SPARTA, Tenn. ( WKRN ) — Most cemeteries have some similarities, but one in Sparta, Tennessee brings in visitors from all over the world for its unique design.

Down a long winding road in White County, Tennessee, one cemetery quickly stands out.

“This is a very interesting and particular type of design in gravestones,” said Keith Harper, a self-proclaimed cemetery detective based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Harper has spent most of his adult life studying cemeteries and gravesites to better understand those who came before us.

“Trying to understand exactly why cemeteries are here, and the importance of what they tell us, it is kind of like detective work,” said Harper.

And after traveling across 49 states, this cemetery in White County presents a different design.

Harper says these tent-shaped, comb style graves are part of a tradition brought over by the Scottish in the 1820s.

“What we’re finding really is it was from smaller quarries that would quarry this stone, and then individual family members requesting this type of burial,” said Harper.

For some it was religious reasons, others it was more practical, shaped to protect those who lie below.

“In today’s time, if we look behind us we see a fence, designed to keep cattle out,” said Harper.

The cemetery was established in 1826, which tells us in two years, some of these gravesites will be 200 years old.

“I think of cemeteries as places of honor and respect but also it’s a place for us to remember and then eventually to be remembered,” said Harper.

When standing in the middle of Mt. Gilead Cemetery, visitors will notice a clear imaginary line that essentially separates the changing of design overtime.

“I think it’s very interesting that we have a demarcation of between where these tent graves are and then on the other side we have more of what we think of as traditional grave markers,” noticed Harper.

The cemetery sits right across the street from Mt. Gilead United Methodist Church.

Soldiers from the Civil War are known to be buried at the cemetery in unmarked graves, according to church records.

Harper emphasized this is another reason why the land must always be protected.

“Sometimes these stories are lost, but cemeteries help us remember them and help us tell their stories,” said Harper.

The church was registered as a historic site in 1979 and across the street, the cemetery will mark its bicentennial in 2026.

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