Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville)
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Mount Olivet Cemetery is a 250 acre (1 km²) cemetery located in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Mount Olivet has been continuously operated since its initial establishment in 1856. It serves as the final resting place for many of Middle Tennessee's political and business leaders, including several former governors of Tennessee, U.S. Senators, and U.S. Congressional Representatives. Additionally, "Confederate Circle" honors many who served on the Confederate side in the American Civil War. About 1,500 soldiers are buried there. In the 1990s, a funeral home was added to the grounds of Mount Olivet.
For many years, interment at Mount Olivet was limited to white Protestants. Even though this policy was eliminated decades ago, tradition has dictated that this remains very largely the case. In part as a result, the adjacent Calvary Cemetery (to the west) serves a similar function for Middle Tennessee Catholics the two facilities are separated only by grass - one can walk through both cemeteries at the same time, although separate entrances exist and cars cannot pass between the two. Approximately one mile (1.6 km) to the south is Greenwood Cemetery, where a large number of Middle Tennessee's most prominent African American residents are buried.
Mount Olivet Cemetery is located at 1101 Lebanon Road, approximately two miles (three km) east of downtown Nashville. It is open to the public during daylight hours.
[edit] Notable burials
- Adelicia Acklen, wealthy Nashville businesswoman and socialite
- William B. Bate, Governor of Tennessee from 1883 to 1887, American Civil War general
- John Bell, United States Senator and Presidential candidate
- Aaron V. Brown, Governor of Tennessee from 1845 to 1847 and United States Postmaster General from 1857 to 1859
- Jesse Babcock Ferguson, onetime minister of the Nashville Church of Christ, later associated Spiritualism and Universalism
- Joseph Wellington Byrns, United States Congressman and Speaker of the House
- John Catron, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
- Benjamin F. ("Frank") Cheatham, Confederate general during the American Civil War
- Thomas F. Frist Sr., co-founder of Hospital Corporation of America and father of the current majority leader of the U.S. Senate, Bill Frist
- Meredith Poindexter Gentry, United States Congressman
- Alvan Cullem Gillem, Civil War Union general and postbellum Indian fighter
- Felix Grundy, United States Senator and Attorney General
- E. Bronson Ingram, founder of Ingram Industries Inc., parent of the nation's largest book distributor and other major companies
- Howell Edmunds Jackson, United States Senator and Supreme Court Justice
- Thomas A. Kercheval, Tennessee State Senator and Mayor of Nashville
- David Lipscomb, founder of Nashville Bible School (now Lipscomb University)
- Jack C. Massey, entrepreneur who helped found or take public Hospital Corporation of America, Kentucky Fried Chicken and two other NYSE-listed companies
- Hill McAlister, Governor of Tennessee from 1933 to 1937
- J. O. McClurkan, founder of the Literary and Bible Training School for Christian Workers (now Trevecca Nazarene University)
- Benton McMillin, Governor of Tennessee from 1899 to 1903
- John Overton, friend of Andrew Jackson and one of the founders of Memphis, Tennessee
- James E. Rains, American Civil War general killed in the 1862 Battle of Murfreesboro
- Fred Rose, music publishing executive
- Thomas G. Ryman, steamboat captain, Nashville businessman, and builder of Ryman Auditorium
- Vernon K. Stevenson, first president of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad
- Ernest Stoneman, country music performer
- Marcia Trimble, young rape and murder victim of crime in which Nashville was said to have "lost its innocence"
- Samuel Watkins, founder of Watkins Institute (now Watkins College of Art and Design)
- Del Wood, pianist
[edit] References
- Wills, W. Ridley, II. A Walking Tour of Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Nashville, 1993.
