Sulphur Spring Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee

 

Now that we know where Timothy Demonbreun, Sr. (click his name to find out) is buried, it is time to share what research revealed about the old Sulphur Spring Cemetery location and that cemetery behind the Geist Blacksmith Shop. There was a Sulphur Spring cemetery, and there was a cemetery at the rear of the Geist property. Two cemeteries, not one.

The Sulphur Spring cemetery was called the second cemetery. The first burial ground was near the present courthouse on the bluff above the river. The soil was too shallow, and another location was found on private land near Nashville to the north. The third cemetery is the Nashville City Cemetery on 4th Avenue South. This second cemetery was on a bluff above a sulphur spring. Posted below is a map that shows the cemetery above Judge McNairy's sulphur spring. I have a reference stating it was on Cabbage Hill, but no reference for where Cabbage Hill is located. This old cemetery was not much used and badly neglected. Located on private property, the cemetery was in an out-of-the-way spot. In the beginning, it was a quiet and peaceful spot. 

As the town grew, the cemetery ground became a hangout for rascals and rouges. One of the pastimes seems to have been to vandalize grave makers. Couples also gathered to share intimate moments. Outside of the city limits, it was not a place that mourners would care to visit. By 1811, the cemetery was neglected and in poor condition. Citizens clamored for a graveyard in a better location to be owned and maintained by the city government. Many locals were buried in churchyard cemeteries. There is a mention of a Presbyterian Cemetery in Nashville in an 1806 newspaper, An exact location was not given, but it would have been within the city limits. Not to be outdone, it is likely that other denominations had a burial ground for the faithful. Anyone with a bit of land could have a private family cemetery. 

Nashville 1804 map drawn from the recollections of Mrs. Temple.

Numerous references state the cemetery was on a bluff above the sulphur spring. The earliest piece of evidence for the location of the sulphur spring cemetery is a map. It was is referred to as the 1804 map of Nashville and was drawn from the recollections of Mrs. Temple, daughter of Duncan Robertson. On this map, the cemetery is nearer to McNairy's sulphur spring. This spring was southwest of the lower sulphur spring. McNairy's spring would later be called the Judge's spring. You can view and enlarge this map online or download a copy here. TEVA This map is questionable because it was drawn from the memory of Mrs. Harriet Robertson Temple, daughter of Duncan Robertson. Mrs. Temple was a young child in 1804, and though the map is valuable, her age must be taken into account. Further research indicates that she was in error on the location of the old cemetery.

The 1804 map was one of many that was searched looking for the Sulphur Spring Cemetery. Two maps give a better idea of where the old cemetery was located. An 1833 map, published by John P. Ayers, does not indicate the cemetery. As it had been long abandoned by the early 1830s, this is not a surprise. The map does show the sulphur spring in the area where the Sulphur Dell ballpark would be built about forty years later. It shows all of Nashville at the time. In 1859 John Meigs drew a map of the location of the cemetery. The motivation for Meigs's map was the removal of a soldier's grave from the old cemetery to Mt. Olivet. The soldier was Lieut. Richard Chandler.  In 1850, Nathaniel Cross reported to the Tennessee Historical Society on his Sulphur Spring Cemetery visit. 

"Being on the bluff immediately above the Sulphur Spring this afternoon, which as is well known was formerly a place of burial for our city, as we now consider it, I observed that there was but one stone left with an inscription on it to tell who lies beneath, as this will disappear like the others."

The inscription on the stone, according to Cross, read:

"Erected by Sundry Brother Officers and Comrades"

"To the memory of Richard Chandler, late 1st Lieutenant and Paymaster, 4th Regiment of Infantry. In the Army of the United States, who deceased on the 20th day of December, 1801, aged 37 years, 7 months, and 10 days.

"He lived esteemed an honest man and brave soldier.

"He died regretted by all who knew him.

"Exalted truth, and manly firmness shown. 

"Conspicuous in him beneath this stone."

It was not until September of 1859 that Chandler's remains were finally taken to Mt. Olivet to be reburied. Sadly there is no monument to mark his grave there.

Demonbreun's original burial spot has been proven. The location of the Sulphur Spring Cemetery is a mystery solved. Now to the Geist property cemetery on Jefferson Street. 

This research has been conducted over many years. I have been saving bits and pieces as found, always with the quest of finding the old cemetery. In the last few weeks, a lot of new information has come up while looking for Timothy Demonbreun. If I find more, I will add an update.

In the meantime, remember that you read it here first on the Nashville History Blog.