Mount Olivet Cemetery
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LSUMonica
N 36° 09.197 W 086° 44.015
16S E 523965 N 4000982
Mount Olivet Cemetery was founded in 1856 and is the resting place of nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers as well as prominent Nashvillians.
Waymark Code: WM1D8Q
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 04/10/2007
Views: 14
Mount Olivet Cemetery has been a place of final rest since 1856. The cemetery was chartered under an act of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, and was named to honor the Mount of Olives where, according to biblical scripture, Jesus Christ ascended to heaven.
The cemetery is renown for its unusual crypts and monuments. One of the most outstanding features of the cemetery is the Confederate Circle—a plot of land located on the cemetery’s highest point to honor the Confederate dead. More than 1,500 Confederate soldiers are buried in the circle, which was purchased by the Ladies’ Memorial Society of Nashville. Vernon K. Stevenson, the first president of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, is interred in an exact replica of Napoleon Bonaparte’s tomb in Paris.
Seven Confederate generals are buried in or around the circle. They are William B. Bate, William N.R, Bealle, Benjamin Franklin Cheatham, William H. Jackson, George E. Maney, James E. Rains, and Thomas Benton Smith. Other prominent Nashville Confederates, Colonels Adolphus Heiman and Randall McGavock, lie nearby.
National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form in PDF format