Stories Behind the Stones
Once upon a time....
In the over-170 documented cemeteries inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, every grave has its own personal "once upon a time." Every grave represents the story of a human life.
Sadly, most of these stories are lost to time. In an alarming number of cases, even the person's name has been forgotten.
We are not genealogists and do not aspire to become such. We have no desire to sit in a courthouse documents room pouring over old census records to determine who begat whom. Many dedicated individuals are doing that work, and we are glad someone else takes delight in such pursuits so that the history of the mountain people can be pieced together for future generations. We would rather get our boots and fingernails dirty out in the field.
What captures our imaginations is the story behind the grave.
For every Smoky Mountain grave that carries an interesting story, there is another anonymous grave beside it whose story has been lost to history. Every grave represents a life - each worth the telling, each worth the remembering.
We offer here a small sampling of the stories that have been passed down. We can only wonder what stories have been lost.
It is not that they died and were buried here.
It is that they lived and were buried here.