Story 2
Ain’t No Grave: A family grave site demolished in the midst of Murfreesboro development
By Zoë Haggard
Driving down I-24, just before the New Salem exit, one can see a bulldozed hill sloping behind a new Race Track gas station and surrounded by the black tarp of a construction site. It’s the location for a Costco store planning to be open in 2020.
But beneath the site’s overturned soil, lying in piles of debris, are the remaining and forgotten headstones of the Warren Cemetery that had been bulldozed earlier in October.
The news was abruptly brought to the Rutherford County Historical Society at one their Coffee and Conversation meetings held every Saturday morning in the historic Ransom House off of Main Street.
Eddie Smotherman, a city councilman, and Allen Gooch, one the historical society’s members, were the bringers of the bad news. According to them, there was a miscommunication between the project overseers and the construction workers, who thought the gravestones were just boulders.
Not much is known about the Warren Cemetery. However, it was acknowledge in the 2014 Historic Cemetery Survey led by Middle Tennessee State University’s Dr. Van West and his students.
On the website that has digitized the location of every known cemetery, the Warren Cemetery was described as “Underneath the billboard near the New Salem Highway exit.” Pictures accompany the description—pictures of dead brambles and brush curling over the unmistakable angular shapes of headstones.
“It was unfortunately not taken care of. Cemeteries face really special challenges because that they’re often in the middle of fields that are going to get claimed by the development around here,” Lydia Simpson.
Simpson is a programs manager for the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University.
She was concerned about what happened to the Warren Cemetery, yet she remained realistic about why this happened.
“There’s really no funding for cemeteries, and people come to us often looking for nus to save their family cemeteries. You know, we can direct them to resources but there’s really not the manpower,” she said.
Such miscommunications have happened before. So the why as to how the desecration of the cemetery occurred raises questions over the speed at which our town is developing.
“I don’t feel fondly about the fact that was pushed down. There’s no way they can say they didn’t see that,” said Bill Jakes.
Jakes is not only a Murfreesboro realtor, but he also serves on the historic zoning commission and has a personal connection to Murfreesboro history.
“The fact that the tombstones were thrown in with other debris just makes me think they were doing the wrong thing and they knew it,” he said.
Sitting in his beside the large bay windows with the morning sun streaming through them, Jakes sat in the office of his preserved 1892 bungalow. Its squeaky floors, semi-functional transepts, and salvaged door frames give the office character as well as reveal the painstaking amount of work Jakes has put into preserving the turn-of-the-century jewel.
“My family’s been here since the 1830s, and I feel an obligation to save some things. ‘Course I’m in real estate so development and redevelopment is important,” he said.
For Jakes, he said his main motivation for preservation is mainly the growth.
“I totally agree with these codes and regulations to try to keep it within reason because while I do agree higher density is good and I do agree that condos and that going up is the way to achieve this, I still don’t want to mess with the flow and rhythm. We want to keep that historic feel and layout,” he said.
Even though Jakes and Simpson are both involved in historical preservation, they are not against the development that is occurring throughout the middle Tennessee area.
“A lot of people have the impression that historic preservationists are anti-development, are anti-business, anti-progress. But preservation and planning go hand-in-hand,” said Simpson.
That is, historic preservation works as a force to keep growth and development in check, to keep it in “smart growth,” and to not get out-of-hand.
Both Dr. West and Jakes agree that one of the main concerns coming from the growth is gentrification and the rise of property values—both of which make preserving old buildings typically found in depleted parts of Murfreesboro difficult to finance.
Such overgrowth can be seen in Nashville where too many “tear downs” are occurring in the city’s historic neighborhoods, according to Dr. West.
Even though what happened to the Warren Cemetery was a result of miscommunication and poor planning, it serves as reminder to slow down.
“I agree that Rutherford County is growing and expanding as never before. But the community has worked hard since the turn of the 21st century to put into place so many positive historic preservation gains that I think the city and county are in a good place,” said Dr. West.
And it’s important we continue to do, especially since Rutherford County has over 40 properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places, according to Dr. West.
But even there the city has started a planning process and new overlay zoning ordinances to protect downtown Murfreesboro and its long-time residents.