Written by Christie Crawford
Clarksville, TN – A place to relax, socialize, and learn about local history – If you were in the late 1800s in Clarksville, the place that would come to mind first is Greenwood Cemetery. The idea of Greenwood Cemetery grew from the needs of families who wanted their loved ones interred in a park-like setting, complete with beautiful landscaping and options for elaborate monuments and headstones.
This was also coincident with the Victorian Age’s notion of mourning and the growth of the Rural Cemetery Movement. Before this time, burials were done in old churchyards and on family farms. As development across Tennessee grew, these older burial grounds were lost forever, as churches were moved, buildings were left to ruin, and farms were sold.
When Greenwood Cemetery was opened, the town of Clarksville and its surrounding areas experienced post-Civil War prosperity as a result of the tobacco industry. Many of the existing cemeteries and church sites were at capacity, signaling the need for a new cemetery to be created.
In 1872, the concept of Greenwood Cemetery was born, and in 1873, the cemetery was soliciting burial plots. It quickly became the popular place to rest in peace. The cemetery also became a setting for notable and wealthy citizens to be immortalized with elaborate tombstones and mausoleums.
At 125 acres, the cemetery has all appearances of a park with rolling hills and trees, typical for the time frame, where places of rest were landscaped to that of a rural garden setting.
The cemetery opened to great fanfare, and even the Clarksville Trolley made frequent stops for residents to stroll and admire the scenery. It became a suitable place for ladies to meet up with friends and picnic, as downtown Clarksville was viewed as rough and dirty and not the safest place to visit.
Today, besides funeral attendees visiting, there are regular walking groups, as well as volunteers helping with events such as Wreaths Across America, a Laying of Wreaths each December where veterans’ graves are decorated with a wreath. Easter Sunrise Service occurs regularly at the Veteran’s Memorial. and local Boy and Girl Scouts plant flags for a Memorial Day commemoration, making Greenwood still a place of honor for those who rest there.
Last fall I had the opportunity to take the Greenwood Cemetery Walking tour hosted by the Customs House Museum, and to learn the history of the cemetery itself, as well as the wonderful stories of those who rest there. There are many beautiful and interesting graves at this site of repose, including old tombstones with well-worn inscriptions, touching epitaphs, impressive carved memorials, and interesting examples of death’s symbolism through motifs.
On Saturdays from late September through late October you can experience this historic place yourself, through the Customs House Museum’s tours. Clarksville-Montgomery County historian and author of Greenwood Cemetery: A History, Carolyn Ferrell, also will be conducting tours on Sundays in September.
Check Greenwood Cemetery’s Facebook page for more information on these tours, or come visit yourself. The cemetery is located at 976 Greenwood Avenue, Clarksville, and its hours are from 8 a.m. to dusk.
And, if you come to the cemetery, be sure to visit these top interesting residents of Greenwood Cemetery:
1) Austin Peay IV: Former Governor of Tennessee from 1923-27 and namesake of Austin Peay State University, Governor Peay, died unexpectedly of a cerebral hemorrhage in Nashville in 1927. He was known as the governor who ushered in modern Tennessee with his overhaul of taxes, improved state schools and championed the expansion of the state highway system.
2) Cave Johnson: A lawyer and part of the military militia that served under Andrew Jackson in 1813. A one-time attorney general and state representative, Cave is best known for serving as the Postmaster General from 1845 to 1849 and introducing the postage stamp system.
3) Frank Spencer Sutton: Best known as Sergeant Carter on the long-running series “Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.” Sutton was born in Clarksville and served in the Army during WWII in the South Pacific, where he attained a true sergeant’s rank. Using his GI bill, Sutton moved to New York to attend Columbia University’s School of Drama. He went on to star in other hit shows, such as “Maverick” and “The Twilight Zone” as well as two soap operas. Sutton died of a massive coronary at age 51.
4) Brenda Runyon: The wife of a physician, Bryce Freeman Runyon. Brenda was not satisfied by merely living the life of a doctor’s wife. Her persistence helped her start the first American Cross chapter in Clarksville, as well as pioneer the public library and city hospital. But, it was her business acumen that led to her role in the creation and operation of the first woman-owned and staffed bank in the United States. First Woman’s Bank of Tennessee was located in the former Arlington Hotel building downtown and lasted for nine years before merging into the First Trust and Savings Bank.
5) Nannie Tyler: Greenwood’s beloved angel. Born in 1881, the daughter of a local judge and financial officer, Nannie’s grave is the most visited in the cemetery. Her death from diphtheria at age 4 aspired her grieving parents to commission a marble statue from Italy in the likeness of their little girl based on a recent portrait. Her incredibly life-like statue was a victim of theft in 1996 when the statue was taken and recovered from a Missouri antique store. Her statue, unfortunately, has been a victim of vandalization, but to date, the statue is intact and adorned with numerous beads and toys that have been left at her feet.
