Chattanooga and Forest Hills Cemetery

Strange that I recently got back from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and now its all over the news. Not for a good thing. A gunman opened fire on July 16, 2015, at a military recruitment center and killed four U.S. Marines (see link at end for more information). 

When I was there, I visited a few cemeteries, including the Chattanooga National Cemetery, which may be the final resting place of the four marines killed in the recent shooting. One of the other cemeteries I visited was Forest Hills, on the south side of the city, closer to Lookout Mountain (arguable the city’s main tourist draw).

Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tennessee

If you like Victorian-era cemeteries, Forest Hills is worth a visit. It’s got the marble statues, the angels, the bronze busts. It has many uniquely-styled mausoleums on its main road, with monuments galore populating its many hills and dales. The odd thing about Forest Hills, for me, is that I didn’t know any of this before I went to Chattanooga. The Forest Hills Cemetery website itself didn't give me a very clear picture of the beauty within (literally, there are no very clear pictures on the site!). I did find out, however, that the cemetery was established in 1880 and is actually in a Chattanooga suburb called St. Elmo.

D.C. Trewhitt, Civil War veteran

I had done some Internet research before my trip and only came up with two major cemeteries within the city proper - Chattanooga National Cemetery and the Confederate Cemetery (both of which I visited). Usually, you can find photographs on the Internet that people have taken in cemeteries, so you have some idea of whether a particular cemetery has a lot of Victorian mourning sculpture – which is generally what I find most interesting. However, I came up with nothing on Forest Hills ahead of time, save the name, and a few facts from its website. Certainly I knew nothing about D.C.Trewhitt, whose likeness is carved in stone at left. (Daniel C. Trewhitt, by the way, was a Chattanooga judge and resident, who enlisted in the Union Army's 2nd Regiment of the Tennessee Infantry during the Civil War.)

Marble statue detail with anatomically correct toes!

So how did I end up in Forest Hills? Purely by chance! I had actually planned to drive about two miles south across the Tennessee border into Georgia to visit the small family Dixon Cemetery, in Catoosa County. The only reason being so I could quote these directions from the FindAGrave website:

“It is reached by crossing the Tennessee-Georgia state line, Hwy 41 North, turn left at Scruggs Road, proceed one and a half miles and go under the bridge over I-75. Turn right through the gate to the Brainerd Optimist Club Drag Strip. The cemetery is on top of the hill adjacent to the interstate and to the right of a house.”

Since I was nowhere near Colbert County, Alabama, and it’s Coon Dog Cemetery could not be on my agenda (click link if you think I’m making this up), the five-gravestone Dixon Cemetery near the dragstrip would have to do. But that was before I found the brochure, “On the Glory Land Road – The Religious Heritage Sites of Southeast Tennessee,” published by the Southeast Tennessee Tourism Association. I think I picked this up near my hotel somewhere.

Paging through the brochure, I came upon a photo of a mausoleum next to a paragraph describing Forest Hills Cemetery. It said:

Magnolia, Forest Hills Cemetery

“Of particular interest to us is Forest Hills Cemetery (4016 Tennessee Avenue). Forest Hills is noted for its vast collection of stones, mausoleums and memorials carved in styles and depicting themes ranging from neo-classical to gothic to Victorian. At over 100 acres, the cemetery is also maintained as a botanical garden, containing a wide variety of fruit trees and other flowering plants.”

Odd. Why did I find none of this on the Internet, the source of all wisdom and knowledge? I decided to forgo the Dixon family cemetery near the dragstrip so I could check out Forest Hills. After the fact, I’m glad I did! Forest Hills is an absolute gem of a Victorian cemetery. Granted, it was hotter than Hades when I rolled through the main gates, which is not the most conducive climate for sight-seeing, but I managed to get in a solid hour there before heading for the airport. The cemetery has an office, and I wished I'd had the time to stop in, but I did not.

Mausoleum, Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Forest Hills Cemetery is in a blue-collar neighborhood on the outskirts of Chattanooga. It is not in a sketchy, inner-city area where most of the best Victorian cemeteries usually are. It is populated with very large trees that provide some much-needed shade. A woman was walking her dog near this strange-looking mausoleum while I was there. Unlike the tree with the dates carved into it (photo below), the cylindrical mausoleum vault (above) totally "stumped" me.

Granite tree trunk marker, "1877 - 1887"

It was June when I was in Chattanooga, and the magnolias were in bloom. I’m not talking bushes, I’m talking the most enormous magnolia trees I have ever seen. It was quiet here, but hot. There was the singular large zinc monument among the granite and marble. There were twin, life-sized marble angels flanking a giant column. The statues of mourning women were in ample supply, as were the Woodmen of the World stones. This one, in particular, was rather interesting – it had the birth and death dates carved in granite twigs around a large stump.

Forest Hills Cemetery had many interesting details, though I had only an hour to try to see them. I liked the cobwebs on this bronze woman that was part of a mausoleum door. Although the monuments and other stones are quite old, and natural degradation is obvious, there seems to be no vandalism to speak of. Lawns are manicured and the entire place seems well cared for.

Had to get to catch my flight so I pulled out of the cemetery, drove down the road a piece, and stopped by a BBQ joint to pick up a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw, and an iced tea. Figured I could eat this as I flew up Interstate 24 to the airport. Hadn’t expected a traffic jam, so I was able to manage the sandwich quite easily in the stop-and-go traffic. Why would anyone make a pulled pork sandwich on Texas Toast, though, I ask you? And in Tennessee, besides?

Read more about: Chattanooga shooting: 4 Marines killed, a dead suspect and questions of motive

Independence Day

So I was wracking my brain for something to write about on this July Fourth, Independence Day. There certainly is no shortage of Revolutionary War-related cemeteries in the Philadelphia area in which I live. However, the term “Independence Day” kind of stuck in my brain as a good descriptor for this Cemetery Traveler blog that I write. Since I write it basically to please myself, I am rather independent when it comes to subject matter. That is, I can write what I want.

Flag representing the 13 original colonies, St. Peter's

Sometimes I write about topical things, but mostly, its about history and the cemeteries that call it to mind. Fortunately, this stuff never gets old, as it says on the banner in the photo below. (This was taken in 2014, by the way, at the churchyard cemetery of old St. Peter's Church at Third and Pine Streets, in Philadelphia. St. Peter's, est. in 1761, has many Revolutionary War-era graves.) The fact that I have 250 followers leads me to believe that my readers do not mind this approach. Of course, I do follow a wide path, in that everything I write is somehow cemetery-related. I do appreciate the fact that so many people read this blog, and it kind of snuck up on me this past spring that I am entering my FIFTH year of writing it!

St. Peter's Church at Third and Pine Streets, in Philadelphia

With independence, then, comes a sort of responsibility. I am responsible to you, my readers, to create something worth reading. I am also responsible to myself, to have created something which am proud to call my own.

So happy Independence Day, 2015. While we are ensconced for the weekend in backyard barbecues, parades, flag-waving, fireworks, and all manner of "rockets' red glare" stuff, think about this photo above. The peace sign. I was surprised to see it the other day in front of a rowhome down the street from where I live in Philadelphia. It brought back memories of the late 1960's when I would see this symbol all over the place because of the Vietnam War. There have been many other wars involving the United States since then. Have we learned anything from them? Our forefathers fought in the Revolutionary War for freedom. So I have the freedom, within limits, to write anything I want in this blog. What do we fight for now?

No More Flag for the Southland

The other day, June 26, 2015, as I was sitting in an airport, waiting for my plane out of the Southland, I went into a bar for a beer. As I sat down, I saw President Barack Obama’s CNN televised eulogy for murdered Charleston, South Carolina, Reverend Clementa Pinckney. I had just spent two days in Tennessee and never once saw the Confederate Flag flying. I went to two cemeteries where Confederate soldiers are buried, and saw no rebel battle flags. Pinckney was one of nine people murdered by accused white gunman Dylann Storm Roof inside Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015.

Dylann Storm Roof  with Confederate flag (Ref.)

"Dylann Storm Roof, now charged with nine murders, embraced Confederate symbols before the attack, posing with the rebel battle flag and burning the U.S. flag in photos. Their appearance online prompted this week's stunning political reversals, despite the outsized role such symbols have played in Southern identity." -  http://news.yahoo.com

The Confederate flag, a symbol of rebellion and pride, is also a symbol of division and racial hatred. According to the Wall Street Journal, on June 22, 2015, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley made an “abrupt about-face in [the] wake of [the] Charleston killings to call for removal of [the] flag that has flown on statehouse grounds for 50 years.” “The flag was an important part of South Carolina’s past, Ms. Haley said in her remarks, but “it does not represent the future of our great state.” More states are likely to follow. A symbol of Southern pride since the American Civil War, the flag will likely be removed from places of honor and stowed in the archives – or possible destroyed.

All this because of the 21-year-old high school dropout who allegedly opened fire in a black church during a bible study meeting, killing nine. The stories and pictures are all over the Internet. The photos that gets the most attention are the ones with Roof (which I've reproduced here) holding the Confederate flag.

President Obama, during his eulogy: "For many — black and white — that flag was a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation. We see that now," he said. (Ref.)

When I was in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I visited the Confederate Cemetery, near the University of Tennessee. Thousands of Confederate soldiers are buried here, sectioned by the state where they enlisted – Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. All fought in the battles around Chattanooga in 1863. Not one Confederate flag flies on any grave. Were any there prior to the Charleston killings? I don’t know. Certain things can be changed easily; some cannot. Flags can be easily removed, but not so easily the stars and crossed bars wrought in iron across the cemetery’s entry gates.

Photo of alleged killer Dylann Storm Roof, with flag and gun (Ref.)

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A website with a white supremacist manifesto features dozens of photos of Dylann Storm Roof, the man accused of killing nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, posing with weapons, burning an American flag and visiting Southern historic sites and Confederate soldiers’ graves. - www.toledoblade.com

Chattanooga National Cemetery

Another stop I made was the Chattanooga National Cemetery. A much larger, mini-Arlington type burial ground run by the U.S. Government, with over 50,000 burials. Upon entering the gates, there were only two flags flying at the top of the hill – the cemetery's own flag (background in the image at left) and the United States flag. The U.S. flag was flying at half-mast. There were no rebel flags anywhere, no sign of the stars and bars.

Like the gates of the Confederate Cemetery, there is something here in the National Cemetery, however, that belies our notion of equality. There may be no Confederate flags on the graves, but the government-issued “U.S.C.T.” headstones marking black graves are segregated from the white graves. “U.S.C.T.” stands for United States Colored Troops, a designation bestowed by the United States Government in 1863 on the black soldiers who fought in the Union Army. There were 175 USCT regiments, by the way, which constituted almost a tenth the manpower of the Union Army.

USCT Section in Chattanooga National Cemetery

And discrimination is alive and well in America, a hundred and fifty years later. From alleged killer Dylann Storm Roof’s white supremacist manifesto, "The Last Rhodesian," (which, if you have a strong stomach, you can read at this link):

“I have no choice,” it reads. “I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.” - (Ref.)

During his eulogy to Reverend Pinckney, President Obama praised South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley for asking lawmakers to bring down the Confederate flag that flew outside South Carolina's Statehouse. A number of politicians stated that historic but divisive symbols no longer deserve places of honor.

Confederate Cemetery, Chattanooga, TN

"It's true a flag did not cause these murders," Obama said. "But as people from all walks of life, Republicans and Democrats, now acknowledge — including, Gov. Haley whose recent eloquence on the subject is worthy of praise — as we all have to acknowledge, the flag has always represented more than just ancestral pride. Removing the flag from this state's capitol would not be an act of political correctness. It would not be an insult to the valor of Confederate soldiers. It would simply be an acknowledgment that the cause for which they fought — the cause of slavery — was wrong." (Ref.)