Historic Highland Cemetery vandalized
Published 11:51 am Friday, October 28, 2022
1 of 4
Star Photo/Tyler Scalf
Star Photo/Tyler Scalf
Star Photo/Tyler Scalf
Star Photo/Tyler Scalf
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Elizabethton Police are seeking the person or persons who sometime this past week vandalized the historic Highland Cemetery which overlooks the City of Elizabethton. Officers said they were notified by Joe Alexander that 20 to 30 headstones in the old part of the cemetery had been turned over or knocked from their concrete bases. Some of the markers were damaged.
Alexander said he suspected the vandalism occurred Tuesday night.
“We don’t have cameras in the cemetery, but we’re hoping neighbors nearby may have seen something or may have a camera and caught something on them,” said Alexander, who oversees the older part of the cemetery, where many of the town’s early leaders are buried.
“It was the work of more than one person as some of the stones overturned were very large and heavy,” he said. “All I can say to the person or persons who did this is how would you feel if someone did this to your parents’ or grandparents’ grave?”
Thursday evening during a visit to the cemetery, a couple of cars drove through, checking out the damage. “It’s sad. Not even the dead can rest in peace,” said one lady on Friday morning after making a trip to the cemetery Thursday.
Marked and unmarked tombstones, some broken and others standing crooked and graying, are scattered about Highland Cemetery. They hint at past lives and untold stories of men and women who played a part in Elizabethton’s early history.
On the stones are names like Jobe, Hunter, Dungan, Alexander, Miller, Allen, Hyder, Fletcher, Lacy, Dugger, Folsom, Tipton, and the list goes on. The cemetery is well over 100 years old.
Alexander, whose grandfather, H.M. Alexander, was among those who formed the Highland Cemetery Association, said the cemetery had a perpetual fund, which would be used to repair the damaged tombstones.
The cemetery is the resting place for both Confederate and Union soldiers, Spanish-American War veterans as well as soldiers from World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.
Newer graves in the cemetery include those of sisters, Hilda Scott, who died in 1987, and Ruth Scott, who died in 1976. Hilda worked for a number of years at the Carter County Courthouse, and Ruth, a World War II veteran, was long-time pianist-organist at First Baptist Church.
Near the back of the cemetery is the grave of Barbara Fraley, mother of Sheriff Mike Fraley.
Also, located in the rear of the cemetery is the mausoleum containing the remains of the woman some call Granny Febuary. Legend has it that her ghost walks through the cemetery at night. If only this was so, she could tell the police who vandalized the cemetery this past week.
It is in this cemetery high on a hill on Tipton Street that so much of the history of Elizabethton lies buried. It is the final resting place of many of Elizabethton’s sons and daughters.
Anyone having information about who vandalized the cemetery is asked to contact the Elizabethton Police Dept.
