The Mount Olivet Cemetery Illuminated Walking Tour
By Richard Knight
20 Oct 2009
[Mount Olivet Cemetery, 1101 Lebanon Pike, Nashville, Tennessee]
The 17th Annual Mount Olivet Cemetery "Illuminated Walking Tour" was held Saturday night, October 10, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mount Olivet Cemetery is a repository of 19th Century history. Established in 1856, it is the final resting place for many of the prominent personalities of that era.
The Cemetery speaks eloquently, if silently, of Tennessee's participation in the American Civil War. Confederate Circle contains the graves of 1,500 Confederate soldiers, many of them unknown. Eight Confederate general officers are buried at Mount Olivet.
The Tour consists of ten (10) stops. At each stop, at least one actor in period dress emerges from behind the grave (or from the mausoleum) of the person buried there, and presents a ten-minute program on that person's life.
The Tour is never the same. Personalities come and go. As many as 50 different personalities have been portrayed over the years.
With nightfall, the candles that line the Cemetery's pathways are the only source of illumination. It's spooky, and the children love it.
The Tour is quite a production. As many as 50 volunteers are needed, and many of them arrive in period costume, much to the delight of the public. The Tour usually attracts about a thousand visitors, in any given year.
For more information, please see the information that accompanies each photo.
If you are in Nashville and enjoy old cemeteries, I recommend a visit to Mount Olivet. Self-guided tours are permitted. Stop by the office for a map and audio cassette.
2 responses
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Andrea Petersen gave props (22 Oct 2009):
I loved all the pictures and the interesting narratives with each one..Very nice photo essay!
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Zerina Phillip gave props (17 Nov 2009):
The photos are beautiful. Thank for the history of the cemetery.
