Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-12-05
THE SLEEPING AND THE DEAD.


Mount OIiVet CemeIery-A Besutifal
ana quiet Resting PIaee-ImPr"Va-
ments and AdOrnmenIs. etc. eic. N
Some obseryant and discriminating wri-
ter has said that the moral tone of the
people of city or town could be accurate
ly Judged by the condition of its cemeteries
and public buildings. Adiudged by this
standard, leaving our public buildings ont
Of the account, Nashville will rank among
the first cities of the South or Southwest.
II is pleasing to visit our cemeteries, our
cities of the dead, and witness the improve
ments being made, and see the monumental
marble reared over the "fral tenemehts" of
those whose ''fery souls" have gone to join
the immortal throngs Of other worlds.
Though
Death levels all things in his march.
Andnone resists his mighty strength"
the keen pangs of his inevitable dart are
somewhat soothed by the knowledge that
the cold clods of our crumbling clay will
comminge with native dust, and that beau
teous evergreens and the well-tilled flowers
of affection will grow and blossom above
us, keeping our memories fresh and green
in the minds Of those we have left behind
us.
We have been led into these reflections
by the melancholy and pensive attractive
ness presented at the newly improved Mount
OliVet Cemetery, wherein so many of our
friends, after their tents have been struck
from Tiles great camping ground" have
lain down to repose in the last "great BIZ
vouac Of the dead"
Since the removal of the remains from
the grounds of the City Cemetery to Mount
OliVet, the latter has undergone many
beanteous improvements, and many per-
sons more than usual have been attracted
hither. The vacation by the city authori.
ties of the grounds conceded to the Nash-
vile and Decatur road was necessary and
absolute, and the advantageous purchase of
grounds in the Mount OliVet Cemetery was
most wisely determined upon. The ex-
huming from the old cemetery, and the re-
interment of such remains as had to be re-
moved have been completed in highly
satisfactory manner. More than fifty burial
lots have been furnished and over two
hundred and fifty bodies have found final
6SpulluTe DN lulh I6uONdl. n. NELSON a
Co., as agents, made the negotiations with
the Mount Olivet Cemetery Company, and
r. II. Groomes & Co. made the removals
under contract with the city authorities
and under the supervision of the friends of
the deceased.
The remains of those removed embraced
different classes and sexes of those who
have gone before us. Some of them left
us in the full blush of womanly beauty
and loveliness-upon them
Death lay like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of the field"
Others of them were cut off in the ripe
prime Of glorious and hardy manhood.
Over both, monuments have arisen and on
the sculptured marbles whiteness We read
in dim tracery the virtues 80 much more
lastingly engraved upon our hearts.
Two neat, large and substantial vaults,
where the dead
Can softly lie and sweetly sleep
Low in the ground"
have been built on Tennessee avenue. One
of these vaults is for Arson Nelson, Esq,
and the other for the late W. H. Calhoun;
each vault contains ten receptacles, and
the entire work Is of the most durable
CLdfdCtets IhS WIN VI CONSTRUCTING IHSSS
vaults was in progress more than year.
and the stone was obtained from a new
quarry, opened for the purpose on the lands
of David H. McGavock, seven or eight |
miles from the city, on the Lebanon turn
pike road. The work of these vaults was
executed by Thomas Shelton an expert in
masonry, from designs of those skillful |
architects, Messrs. Willett & Kiddell.
These vaults have been constructed at a |
cost of over $4,000 each, and are worthy the |
encomiums passed upon them, and of the |
inspection OF those who design the con.
struction of similar works.
Besides these vaults and, various new
monuments, there are other adornments
being added to the Mount Oli7et Cemetery.
The grounds are being beautifully and |
tastefully laid of, and variety of shrub. |
berry and evergreens are to be tTansplanted.
Il will soon be a BETTING place of repose
for the dead. 1t is consecrated ground, for
many of our friends are buried there.
There let them repose, where the chirp
of the wild bird, and the whistlings of the
tameless winds, and the rustling leaves of
the unpruned vine may chant their eternal
lullaby"