News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Envision Livingston Group is considering starting a fund for the town’s oldest cemetery.
The goal maintaining and renovating Cash Cemetery. Member Pat Poston said the grounds look well kept after a recent clean up day, but keeping it presentable has always been a challenge.
“There has been lots of people through the years that has volunteered and would go and clean it out,” Poston said. “There has been lots of people paid to go and mow certain spots, but it has never been maintained all at one time and kept that way.”
Poston said if creating a fund fails, deeding the grounds to the city could also be a solution.
“We’re hoping the city may continue to mow,” Poston said. “After we had our cleanup day, the city would go in once every two or three weeks and mow. We talked about where the property could be deeded to the city. It is just Cash Cemetery. Nobody really owns it.”
The cemetery is the resting place of past Postmasters, Overton’s first female doctor, civil war soldiers and over 100 unmarked African Americans. The oldest grave dating back to 1838.
Poston said identifying some of those bodies and installing headstones is something she wants to accomplish. Poston’s interest in history and close ties to an African American family buried at the site being the cause.
“I got interested in the Cash Cemetery mostly because of some people that I knew,” Poston said. “They were a black family that lived here in Livingston, and they were the Harry Springs family. Two of the daughters I got to know about 25 years ago, and they are buried there.”
Like much of its history, Cash Cemetery receives much support from the community. The most recent cleanup saw 20 volunteers. Poston said one of those being a neighboring land owner volunteering to build a new fence around the grounds.
“We cleaned out the fence rows, and the guy that owns the property next to the cemetery is going to tear down the old fence and put up a new black wooden fence,” Poston said.
The Envision Livingston Group is also looking at purchasing equipment to find all the graves that have yet to sink. Poston said the equipment has a high price tag though.
