Articles

A Visit to Old Salem Cemetery

February 11, 2008

It had been several years (twelve to be exact) since I last visited Old Salem Cemetery, final resting place of Adam Huntsman and his three wives near Jackson, Tennessee. The first time I went was in 1993 when it was just a forgotten country cemetery; fifteen years later, there is a Tennessee state historical marker, a steel gate to keep vehicles from driving through the cemetery, a small pavilion that serves as a welcome center, and several small markers and monuments that commemorate a skirmish in and around the cemetery during the Civil War.

 

Old Salem Cemetery entrance (left) was built by the Altrusa Club of Jackson, TN in 1976 and a monument that commemorates the skirmish fought there by the John B. Ingram Camp 219 SCV some 30 years later.

The graves of Adam Huntsman and his wives--Sarah Quarles, Elizabeth Todd, and Nancy Mosely Huntsman--were originally repaired by members of the Altrusa Club of Jackson as part of a cemetery restoration project in 1975 and 1976. When they began work, they found the cemetery to be "a mass of tangled vines, thickets, fallen trees and broken tombstones." Once the two-month cleanup was completed, the tombstones belonging to Adam, Sarah, and Nancy were pieced back together and encased in concrete to protect them.

 

The tombstones (left to right) of Sarah (Quarles) Huntsman; Elizabeth (Todd) Huntsman; Adam Huntsman; and Nancy (Mosely) Huntsman

Over time, Old Salem Cemetery returned to its neglected state and became a party spot and shooting range, with several tombstones bearing pock marks from gunshots and broken from use to free vehicles stuck in the mud. In the 1990s, John B. Ingram Camp 219 of the Sons Of Confederate Veterans adopted the cemetery and  worked to restore it and make it something of a tourist attraction. Grass was planted where there was eroded earth and exposed tree roots. The tombstones themselves were cleaned and repaired. Vandals who once frequented it have been deterred by the new gate and increased police surveillance.

Tombstone of Adam Huntsman

The tornadoes that ripped through Jackson in 2003 toppled and destroyed numerous trees within and surrounding the cemetery. The lack of shade was one noticeable difference from my last visit; two Civil War era cannons were another! If its small role in that conflict helps maintain it and bring visitors to it, I'm sure Adam Huntsman and his wives wouldn't mind.

 

Two cannons now stand guard over Old Salem Cemetery

 

Historical marker outside Old Salem Cemetery

Sources

"Bicentennial Project: Restoration of Old Salem Campground Cemetery." West Tennessee Historical Society Papers,  Vol. 30: 141-142.

For more information about Old Salem Cemetery, visit www.salemcemeterybattlefield.com/index.html