Mt Olive Cemetery: You Won't Die Twice

BY DR. TYLER NOLTING, PH.D., DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION & ENGAGEMENT, MT OLIVE CEMETERY HISTORICAL PRESERVATION SOCIETY

Mt Olive Cemetery is a monument to the success of Clarksville’s African American community. Those interred at Mt Olive rose from enslavement, volunteered in the U.S. military and became free Americans, serving the community with distinction. The cemetery connects Clarksville’s history to the development of African American institutions throughout the Reconstruction and Jim Crow periods and to its association with people of achievement within the African American community, who served as sources of pride and hope.

On the National Register of Historic Places since 2020, Mt Olive Cemetery is truly a treasure in Clarksville’s own backyard. The Mt Olive Cemetery Historical Preservation Society, started by Genevia Ann Bell, has formed valuable and important partnerships over the last two decades. The Society hopes for this space to be one that the Clarksville community, the state of Tennessee, the United States and the world can embrace and celebrate together in unity and solidarity.

A HISTORIC AFRICAN AMERICAN BURIAL GROUND

At 7.24 acres, Mt Olive Cemetery is one of the largest African American burial grounds in Clarksville. Ground penetrating radar (GPR), conducted in 2005 by Dr. Robert Freedland of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, identified an estimated 900 graves. GPR was conducted again in 2010 by Dr. Daniel Frederick of Austin Peay State University and some of his students, which found an estimated 400 additional graves. Thus, a conservative approximation of the total interments at Mt Olive Cemetery is 1,350, considering that previous GPR did not survey all 7.24 acres of the cemetery. Nearly all those interred at Mt Olive were enslaved or were descendants of enslaved persons, and more than 90% of the graves are unmarked, with the known headstones ranging from rudimentary hand carvings to elaborate monuments. The first burial was James Hunt, who died September 8, 1817, and the last burial was Oscar Jasper Holmes, who died February 22, 1958.

The cemetery, tucked away amongst the trees off Cumberland Drive, was originally part of a 120-acre tract of land, which exchanged hands at least 10 times since 1880 without ever having an African American owner. Currently, 305 individuals interred at Mt Olive Cemetery have been identified: 273 civilians and 32 veterans. Thirty of the veterans were United States Colored Troops (USCT), one was a Buffalo Soldier and one served during World War II.

THE CITIZENS OF MT OLIVE CEMETERY: BUILDING CLARKSVILLE’S COMMUNITY

The 273 known civilians interred at Mt Olive Cemetery built Clarksville into the community it is today. The women buried there performed largely domestic labor, working as housekeepers, cooks, laundresses, teachers, midwives, nurses, tobacco sorters, dairy workers, hairdressers and hotel waitresses. Men labored mostly outside of the house, working as truck drivers, teamsters, shoemakers, barbers, carpenters, gardeners, farmers, painters, tailors, porters, ministers, tobacco laborers, butlers, miners, boot blacks, waggoneers, merchants, coopers, janitors, factory workers, plasterers and blacksmiths.

The average life expectancy of the citizens interred at Mt Olive was 47 years for the women and 42.7 years for the men. Nearly 20% of these individuals died before the age of 18 and more than 7% died before the age of one.

VETERANS OF MT OLIVE CEMETERY: FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM, DIGNITY AND RESPECT

Of the 32 veterans interred at Mt Olive, the 30 USCT served in the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 59th and 101st regiments. The one Buffalo Soldier served in the 24th Infantry Regiment, and the WWII veteran served in the 25th Infantry Regiment. Headstones have been found for 27 of the 32 veterans.

Fort Defiance was built by enslaved African American men prior to the Union takeover of Clarksville in 1862. Beginning in December 1863, a recruitment station was set up in the vicinity of Fort Defiance for the 16th USCT Regiment, where nearly 2,000 enlistments occurred. It is important to note that arriving to the fort could be full of struggle and peril, as Confederate guerillas had patrols set up around Clarksville to prevent enslaved men from reaching their destination.

The 101st USCT had their regimental headquarters in Clarksville at a home built by Robert West Humphries, later becoming the Howard D. Pettus House. This home and property were purchased by Austin Peay State College around 1967, and the building was razed to construct the Dunn Center, which opened in 1975. The 13th USCT played a pivotal role in the Union victory at the Battle of Nashville on December 16, 1864, effectively ending the war in Tennessee, albeit with catastrophic casualties.

By 1865, President Abraham Lincoln stated, “Without the help of the Black freedmen, the war against the South could not have been won.”

THE MT OLIVE CEMETERY HISTORICAL PRESERVATION SOCIETY

Mrs. Bell, a California native, was a Clarksville leader and activist. Earning her GED just prior to her 60th birthday, she then enrolled as a student at APSU. While working on a project at Mt Olive Cemetery for class, she immediately recognized its historical significance, and in 2004, she established the Mt Olive Cemetery Historical Preservation Society, a 501(c)(3) public nonprofit organization. She then convinced the City of Clarksville to accept the donation of the cemetery from its owners, Robert Davis and Mary Holt, with the proviso that the City quit-claim the property to the Society, which occurred June 9, 2005. On May 29, 2019, the Society honored Mrs. Bell’s memory with a bronze plaque at the cemetery.

YOU WON’T DIE TWICE

Over the Society’s near 20-year existence, countless individuals, groups and organizations have offered their time, talents and treasures in order to further preserve and restore the cemetery, while remembering and honoring those interred. All of these people have helped advance the mission of the Society and are continuing our mantra of “You Won’t Die Twice.”

That is, although those at Mt Olive Cemetery have physically passed away, by cleaning their graves, saying their names and restoring and preserving the cemetery, we are keeping their memories alive and not allowing them to die twice. The Mt Olive Cemetery Historical Preservation Society honors and celebrates those buried here as often as possible through ceremonies, presentations, cemetery tours, cleanups, research and various other projects.

If there are individuals, groups or organizations interested in emphasizing the influence and contributions of African Americans regarding the history, education, development, growth and culture of the Clarksville area, then the Society invites you to join in our mission.