I was reading in today's paper (7/16/2020), the Kingsport Times News, about a stolen car crashing into and damaging several headstones in the Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church cemetery. I PAF and we set out to explore a couple of old cemeteries in the area.
Sure enough, there was quite a lot of damage there at the Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church cemetery. All right there at the entrance where the cemetery sign is. We got some good pictures and a video, then moved on to the Boatyard Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery in the historic Netherland Inn area along the river.
There are lots of nice old cemetery art headstones here with peace doves and olive branches made from white marble. Most are broken, laying flat on the ground like the one for Samuel Woods Netherland 18 Nov 1796 - 10 Sep 1832 made by J.B. Caddess, Lynchburg, Va.
There are many grave markers that are just rocks, and lot's of homemade headstones. The lower section seems to be a burial site for children, and just above there is a grave with large rocks arranged in a circle, and a headstone that seems out of place there. From my research, this is the slave burial section on the slope of this hill.
This carriage mounting block is in the center of the cemetery and on the river side. It is a large one, I can view it from Google Earth and it's now scattered in parts with a 12 inch thick locust tree growing from the middle of it. The main top part is a quarried limestone block about six feet long and two feet by one and a half feet thick.
From the findagrave website:
Boatyard Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery
LOCATION Netherland Inn Road
Kingsport, Sullivan County, Tennessee, USA
CEMETERY ID 2287796
"This very old Cemetery is located in Kingsport,TN off Netherland Inn Road at the end of Brunswick St. A sign is on Netherland Road with a path that can be walked up and around a hill to the Cemetery, but approx. .2 of a mile further up is a brick apartment building. Turn up the road by the apartment building and take the first right; go to the end of the road. The Cemetery is just ahead.
The sign says in part that the land was originally part of the Col Gilbert Christian Plantation and was deeded to the the Methodist Episcopal Church by John Lynn and Company in 1827. At that time there was a brick meeting house on the property along with a cemetery. The stone foundation for that building is still visible.
There are a number of unmarked grave site and many field stone. The Lynn's are buried in a walled enclosure. Children and other kin are outside the enclosure along with slaves further to the rear of the cemetery."
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I took this video of the cemetery entrance and general area for Hobo Larry's Cemetery Explorer Spirit Quest Youtube channel, and a good walk around of the carriage mounting block and that area of the cemetery if you would like a virtual tour. Here is the links:
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"The sign says in part that the land was originally part of the Col Gilbert Christian Plantation and was deeded to the the Methodist Episcopal Church by John Lynn and Company in 1827. At that time there was a brick meeting house on the property along with a cemetery. The stone foundation for that building is still visible."
I believe the carriage block was assembled from the remains of this buildings stone foundation, as there are no other foundations in the cemetery.