BLAIR CEMETERY, Port Royal Road (North East) MAURY COUNTY TENNESSEE
aka Harris Cemetery

The Blair Home, founded 1812, first of logs then oak siding was added.

Locator Maps  Cemetery area views  A lost history  G.W. Blair family  The New Monument
Unknown Graves  Cemetery Signage 

BLAIR, George D., 23 Mar 1787 - 13 Jul 1876. 
BLAIR, Elizabeth S. Crawford, 5 Jul 1788 - 13 Oct 1858, "Consort of George D. Blair."
BLAIR, Thomas Williamson, 21 Dec 1812 - 8 Feb 1854.
BLAIR, James H. M. C.(James Harper McCleary), 22 May 1815 - 2 Jul 1884. (Son, George & Mary Stephenson Blair.)
BLAIR, Adra M., 19 Jul 1825 - 23 Sep 1863.
BLAIR, Laura Caroline, 1825 - 1863. (listed on the new monument but not verified with the original cemetery memorials)
BLAIR, Mrs. Mary E.F.S.T., 19 Jun 1819 - 18 Sep 1855.
BLAIR, Rev. George H., 4 May 1820 - 11 Apr 1853.
BLAIR, Susan Montgomery, 11 Sep 1828 - 21 Dec 1853.
BLAIR, Sarah Jane, 20 Dec 1839 - 26 Oct 1842. (Aged 2 years, 10 months & 6 days.)
BLAIR, Infant, b & d. 23 Jun 1846. (stone not found in 2009, nor was the inscription added to the master granite marker.)
BLAIR, Fountain E., 13 Dec 1847 - 2 Dec 1859.
BLAIR, Samuel J., 22 Apr 1850 - 14 Nov 1855.
BLAIR, Nellie, 6 Feb 1861 - 12 Oct 1861. "Dau. of J. H. M. C. & E. S. Blair."
*GLENN, James Exum, "63, d. 4 Apr 1842 at Port Royal, native of Maury Co., son of Wm. & Susan Blair Glenn. Buried Harris Cemetery" (Columbia Daily Herald, 4 Jun 1942.)
McMAHON, Mrs. Eliza S. Blair, 1 Mar 1818 - 29 Jun 1852. (Wife, Henderson McMahon; Dau., George & Mary Stephenson Blair.)
McMAHON, Medorah E., 12 Jan 1841 - 21 Nov 1872. (Daughter of J. E. & Laura Harris.)

A large monument with all the known names, birth & death year has been recently set in place in this cemetery near the entrance. 
*No original stone in this cemetery. Thought to be buried here. This was the Harris property after the original Blair family died out.

Cemetery land deeded: James D. Blair, Jr., J. H. M. C. Blair, H. McMahon, S.C. & H. J. Blair tract of land in D-23 "for the purpose of a burying ground", 42 poles, Recorded 12 Oct 1857." (There were burials here before 1857 so this formalized the cemetery.)

George D. Blair

George D. Blair was one of the early settlers in the area just east of (old) Spring Hill and south of the Williamson
County line. He was a prosperous farmer and was active in church and community affairs. When the citizens of the
vicinity decided to build a church, Mr. Blair gave a nice lot upon which to erect the building. He or his descendents also gave the land for the family cemetery. The cemetery was about 100 yards south of the old Blair home, located in what was then Brittain, Tn. The home was recently bulldozed (late 2008) to make way for a new road to accommodate the new development of the Spring Hill area..

History of Brittain (now called Port Royal)

Brittain was at one time located about three miles east of Spring Hill but would today be located between Spring Hill & I-65 on the Jim Warren Road. It was also very near the Williamson County line. This same area was later also partly known as Port Royal and still is today.  The name Brittain was the name of an old prominent house there which was razed  in late 2008 to make way for the fast paced development in the Spring Hill area. 

This section of Maury County once had a post office (closed in 1903) and was originally settled in the early 1800s by a South Carolina pioneers, including Samuel Dunlap, George D. Blair, Samuel Stephenson, Philip Chapman, the Dudleys, and others. James Lockridge (1757-1840) is said to have lived nearby at one time. James was one of Maury County's veterans of the American Revolution War who fought to free land from the tyranny of British rule. The first church here was a union church on land donated by George D. Blair (1787-1876). Later this church became a Presbyterian church, then eventually (after 1975 & before 2008) was converted to a private property. It still stands today.

The Blair home, called Brittain, was built of logs in 1812. George D. Blair had married a cousin of Andrew Jackson's, Elizabeth Stephenson Crawford. Later when the house was covered by weatherboarding and decorative detail added to the front, Mrs. George D. Blair designed and sawed the detail herself. Brittain was still owned by Blair the descendants in 1975 whose surname is Harris. 

Six weeks before Andrew Jackson's death in 1845, the Blairs' rode horseback to the Hermitage in Nashville to visit her famous but ailing kinsman. 

During the Civil War 1861-1865, this section of Maury County saw much activity particularly from the action around Glenn's Store and Rally Hill, not far away. Wilson's Union cavalry was here many times. In the fall of 1864 the Confederate Army was on Rutherford Creek and the woods were alive with soldiers and skirmishers. 

At least one school was here, Greenwood School built in 1894. Today nothing remains to remind us of the place called Brittain except the Blair Cemetery and a few old Cedar trees. The Port Royal Church on what is today the Jim Warren Road has been converted to a private residence.  Several years ago an old millstone was still in the front yard at Brittain (the Blair home). This was probably the stone from Blair's Mills, which was flourishing in 1844. The mill was also the location of a voting precinct. 

This cemetery was transcribed originally by Mary Bob McClain mostly from Maury County Tennessee Cemeteries, by Fred Lee Hawkins, Jr. page 131-132. Revised for information the survey and photography discovered 24 Feb 2009.  That survey is published here 5 May 2009 by Wayne Austin. Other sources are Hither & Yon by Jill Garrett Vol II, page 74. Century Review of Maury County by Robbins, 1906.