Old Gray Cemetery is and always has been more than simply a place to lay the dead. Felix Dempster, executive secretary of the cemetery’s board, calls it a park, an art museum, a church, a garden, and a history book. Founded at the height of the rural cemetery movement in America, Old Gray was deliberately designed to function as well as a park as it did as a burying ground. According to Dempster, it was meant to be a place of serenity and beauty where families could come to enjoy each other and their own lives as well as honoring and remembering their dead. In the past that may have meant a family picnic, a leisurely carriage ride, or a day spent playing games in the cemetery’s open areas. Today, it often serves as a good place to eat lunch, read a book, or take a walk.
Old Gray is Knoxville’s oldest public cemetery.

Just wandering about and reading the various tombstones can present a good history lesson. Though it officially opened in June 1852, the first burial actually occurred on or about July 5, 1851 when William Martin, an Irish iron worker and a newcomer to town with no known family, had his right arm blown off in a cannon misfire during Knoxville’s Fourth of July festivities.

His death created a necessity for the city to press the new public cemetery into service earlier than expected. In the one hundred and fifty-eight years since, Old Gray has become best known as the resting place for some of the city’s most elite citizens, but in reality, the cemetery serves as the burial spot for an entire cross-section of the Knoxville community.

In addition to three governors, four senators, seven U.S. representatives, over thirty mayors, numerous local businessmen, many veterans from both sides of the Civil War, and several local artists and authors, Old Gray has been the burial place for Knoxvillians from all walks of life, including a wide variety of farmers and tradesmen, families of Irish laborers who built the railroad lines through East Tennessee, at least one circus performer, a few of the infamous and notorious, the rich, the poor, the middle-class, and a little bit of each and every type of person or occupation found in a city over the last three centuries.

Home to over thirty varieties of trees, many shrubs, and countless other plants, Old Gray’s paved paths provide walking trails with a peaceful view of nature that rivals other local parks or gardens. Its wrought iron gates and picturesque sexton’s cottage have long been recognized as subjects of local interest, and many of the tombstones, sculptures, mausoleums, and monuments on the thirteen acre grounds were designed by expert craftsmen, sometimes even true artists with the aesthetics needed for such a cemetery in mind. Though all the lots have long been sold, about five burials still occur in Old Gray each year. Several memorial and holiday services take place as well. The cemetery has served as an official stop on the Dogwood Arts Festival’s trails for many years. During this year, Old Gray also received its designation as an official stop on the Tennessee Historical Commission’s Civil War Heritage Trail and marker was placed on the grounds to help interpret its role and importance during the war.

The height of the cemetery’s calendar is its Lantern and Carriage Tour. Old Gray will celebrate its ninth annual tour on Sunday, September 27th. In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, this year’s tour is themed “Pioneers of the Park” and will feature re-enactors dressed in period costume as they tell the stories of Old Gray’s connections with founders and supporters of the park like Colonel David Chapman, the Kinzel family, the Townsends, and Laura Thornburgh. Musicians and World War II re-enactors will be present as well, and horse drawn carriage rides will be available. Tours will begin promptly at 4:00 rain or shine. Tickets will be $10 for adults and $5 for students. The cemetery is located at 543 North Broadway. More information may be obtained by calling the cemetery at (865) 522-1424.