Forgotten cemetery brought back to life - Hampshire, TN - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

Pisgah Cemetery is in Hampshire, TN, in the southwest part of the state. It is a church cemetery located on a rural road in Maury County.

Article:

This time last year, Eric Cox could barely navigate the dense woods that had reclaimed the cemetery where his wife Portia’s great-grandfather is buried.

This time last year, Eric Cox could barely navigate the dense woods that had reclaimed the cemetery where his wife Portia’s great-grandfather is buried.

Besides the dozens and dozens of small trees creating a bamboo-type forest, a thick carpet of fallen leaves and sticks, vines and sink holes made touring the property treacherous.

They vowed then to “do something” to reclaim Pisgah View Cemetery and restore honor to those buried there.

Through their work and the services of a variety of family members, volunteers and even Maury County jail inmates, the cemetery is now at least recognizable to motorists passing between Mt. Pleasant and Hampshire via Highway 166.

Donations of cash and supplies also helped.

An original sign and post have been restored and erected at the site.

“We certainly have made progress clearing the overgrowth,” Cox said. “The effort has been blood, sweat, tears and more.”

In November, the reclamation project garnered recognition from the Maury County Historical Society as the Non-Residential Present-Year Award winner.

In April, Cox is hoping to pick up some pointers by attending a seminar on preserving and restoring historic cemeteries.

“From that we hope to launch the second phase of the project,” he said.

That phase includes attempting to locate and mark all graves, clean and reset current markers, filling in sunken graves and possibly erecting a fence around the property.

Cox said he also would like to erect a plaque with the names of people known to be buried at Pisgah View.

Cox said he believes there are at least 40-50 cemeteries in Maury County like Pisgah View. Now that the cemetery actually can be seen, Cox said he is hoping more people may volunteer to help with this project or start their own to reclaim these lost cemeteries.

“The problem we have is that the cemetery has been abandoned for so long, people don’t realize they have relatives buried there,” he said.

Cox said the Pisgah View project has re-ignited his interest in visiting his own family cemeteries in and around Lynville.

He said he recently visited the original Cox cemetery located in Giles County on property owned by Judge Bobby Sands.

He also is attempting to create a GoFundMe account to raise funds for the project.

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 02/07/2016 Publication: Daily Herald (Columbia) Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: local News Category: Society/People

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