Boone Trail Baptist Church

Past comes to life in cemetery

Our summer vacation was in the Great Smoky Mountains. Exploration took us deep into Great Smoky Mountain National Park to the area known as Cade’s Cove. This breathtaking 11-mile circuit allowed us to visit restored log homes and churches, preserved by the National Park Service, illustrating the life of the people who settled there in the early 1800s. Most memorable was a walk through the cemetery of the Cade’s Cove Primitive Baptist Church.

This church was established in the 1820s, and services were first held in members’ homes. By 1839, after some squabbling among members, a new church was established and a building built for the congregation. The members of Primitive Baptist Church believed in a literal translation of the Bible.

While walking through this early cemetery, I was struck by the elaborate beauty of the headstones. Detailed with names, dates and heartfelt inscriptions, I realized many were for small children only a few days or months old. There were elaborate stones for the founders of the church and others that were quite simple with no markings at all. In the Southern tradition, small stones were placed on the top of a few to prove a loved one had visited.

The most unusual stone in the cemetery was divided into two parts, inscribed with the names of brothers. One side was for a baby who died before he was 2 years old, and the other honored a brother who lived to be more than 40 years old. The inscription read, “They live with us in memory and will forevermore.”

Unmarked stones, located in a line near the edge of the woods, were odd shapes of slate, buried straight down into the sod. Away from the rest of the cemetery, my guess is they were the graves of slaves. Even though these natural-shaped slate stones were crude, they were lovely in their simplicity.

The history of burying the dead goes back to caveman days; remains from that time have been found in deep pits. Honoring the memory of the deceased by erecting a headstone or marker is more modern. Early graves were often covered in stones to prevent the body from being unearthed by animals. Some folks believed the stones also would prevent the dead from rising.

Burying loved ones in a family cemetery near the home was common in early America. A special place was chosen, fenced, blessed and used for generations. Decorating graves was a natural way to pay respect to those buried in the family plot.

In Europe, burying church leaders inside the church was common. Allowing burials on church property became a source of income. In America, establishing a cemetery near a church building was a place to publicly honor deceased loved ones. Elaborate headstones proved how much the dead were missed.

Monday's mission members meet, learn their tasks and pray. | World ...

Today has been such a blessed day in Chattanooga, TN! As each church arrived, the Summer Staff enthusiastically greeted all the students with cheering and laughter! We are so blessed to have so many amazing students and leaders who are excited to spend their week giving back to others in need.

As each individual met the crews they are going to be working with everyday, the excitement continued to grow! Each crew was able to have a short meeting and get to know each other before an amazing night of worship!

Tomorrow the students will be up by 6:00am for breakfast and they will get ready for “The Great Send Off”  so they can head out to their sites by 7:00 tomorrow morning! We all need to praise God for the work he has done in Chattanooga today and continue to pray that He drastically impacts the lives of all the participants and homeowners this week!

Seventeen church groups rolled up today and we are super excited for God’s plans for the week.

Antioch Baptist Church, from Tallapoosa, GA

Baptist Chapel, from Godwin, NC

Boone Trail Baptist Church, Johnson City, TN

Chiquola Baptist Church, Honea Path, SC

Comer First Baptist Church, Comer, GA

Crossroads Baptist Church, Spartanburg, SC

Denmark FBC, Bamberg, SC

FBC Matthews, Charlotte, NC

FBC Ruston, Ruston, LA

FBC Highland Heights, Alexandria, KY

FBC of St. John, St.

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