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A cemetery is more than just a burial place. It is more than a quiet place to rest while the spring winds sway the surrounding pines and the birds sing to brighten any day. The cemetery’s value to the living is often overlooked. In a walk through the cemetery, one remembers the smiles, voices, and the particular habits of grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters. We close our eyes and remember how they dressed, how they lived, the choices they made, whether good or bad. We remember the kind and gentle grandmother that always had time to show her love. Every person has their own memory of family.

Each stone in the cemetery has another story to tell. It is a history of community. It’s a reminder of people that we knew, whose memory has been shuffled to some far corner of our mind only to be brought to the forefront when we see a name of their time spent on earth. Local cemeteries tell stories of those who live in a particular hollow, on a hill or ridge. He was a farmer, logger or a combination of many things. She was a housewife, midwife, or never married but a friend to all. Isn’t it possible that the most common statement heard in a local cemetery begins with “I remember….?”

These memories and stories will be retold again when the Walnut Mountain Cemetery Association will have its annual meeting and dinner on the grounds Saturday, May 25, at 4 p.m. Usually the dinner is held on the Sunday before Memorial Day, but has been moved to the Saturday before Memorial Day this year.

If you can’t attend, but would like to make a donation toward the mowing and upkeep of the cemetery, please send it to the Walnut Mountain Cemetery Association, ℅ Donna Heation, 104 Pritchard St., Roan Mountain, TN 37687. 

Persons who have family members interred in the cemetery are invited to bring a covered dish and join in the fellowship and memories.