Old Gray Cemetery

Old Gray Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
McGhee obelisk
Show map of Tennessee Show map of the United States
Location	543 N. Broadway Knoxville, Tennessee
Coordinates	35°58′26″N 83°55′29″W / 35.97389°N 83.92472°W / 35.97389; -83.92472
Built	1850
MPS	Knoxville and Knox County MPS
NRHP reference No.	96001402
Added to NRHP	December 4, 1996

Old Gray Cemetery is the second-oldest cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1850, the 13.47-acre (5.45 ha) cemetery contains the graves of some of Knoxville's most influential citizens, ranging from politicians and soldiers, to artists and activists. The cemetery is also noted for the Victorian era marble sculpture and elaborate carvings adorning many of the grave markers and headstones.^[1] In 1996, the cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Named for English poet Thomas Gray (1716–1771), Old Gray Cemetery is an example of a so-called garden cemetery, a mid-19th-century style that sought the transition of graveyards from urban churchyards to quiet suburban plots. Unlike its crowded predecessor, the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Old Gray features spacious graves, grand monuments, and extensive vegetation, and its layout bears more resemblance to a public park. Playwright Tennessee Williams mentions Old Gray in his short story, "The Man in the Overstuffed Chair,"^[2] and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Peter Taylor alludes to the cemetery in his book, In the Tennessee Country.^[3] The cemetery was simply known as "Gray Cemetery" until 1892, when "New" Gray Cemetery was established about a mile away.^[4]