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mcc-jrr_892-025
Joiner - Lacey Cemetery, 89-2 Summary Report, page 25
unnamed cemetery. Of course, it was also about a half mile south from the location of the Joiner - Lacey Cemetery, so that may not be conclusive. However, it seems that the census trails indicate a southern location for the “colored cemetery”, which was described in different terms than the one now called Joiner - Lacey. For example, being “in the middle of our field” and being able to “plow right up to the edge of the cemetery” fits the one near the Woodward Cemetery, which is in relatively flat land. The Joiner -Lacey Cemetery is on a steeply sloped hillside. It is not at all likely that anyone ever plowed right up to its edges, as stated by Lizzie Jacobs Ward on page 4 above. The statement about being in the middle of a field suggests a relatively flat place, not hillsides. Furthermore, the unknown cemetery (881) is definitely “in the pines”, as there are still pine trees in abundance there, and there are large old pine stumps in the cemetery. Finally, the size fits. Lizzie said that the cemetery in the pine was about a half acre. That agrees with current estimates, as opposed to the higher estimated size of the Joiner - Lacey Cemetery, 89-2. While this could explain the Unknown Cemetery 88-1, it still leaves the question of another cemetery that Lizzie Jacobs Ward called “the Jacobs Cemetery”, where her mother wanted to be buried (but couldn't, due to high water being “backed up” - implying “backed up” from the Tennessee River at flood stage). That situation most certainly would not fit either the Joiner -Lacey Cemetery or the Unknown 88-1 Cemetery, as both are in high areas far above the river's flood plain. Lizzie's comment would not fit the other known “Jacobs” cemeteries on the arsenal, either. However, there have been stories told by at least two people of an old tombstone overgrown with Kudzu behind an igloo in the extreme southern end of the arsenal. The igloo in question was thought to be either 8574, 8575, or 8577. Access into this area has not yet been gained by the preparer of this report, so nothing further is known of the stories of another cemetery to the south of the Woodward Cemetery. Still, it “makes the pieces of the puzzle fit together” if there is indeed another old cemetery in that area, near the river, where flood waters would back up and delay burials in the Spring of the years. Accordingly, there may be another cemetery as yet unmarked on the base installation maps. Perhaps time and further research will tell the rest of the story. By John P. Rankin, August 25, 2005 25 - (3114)