PUCKETT CEMETERY, SMYRNA CHURCH RD., MAURY COUNTY TENNESSEE

One of the descendents of the Edward & Rebecca Puckett of this cemetery - Ruby Thomas - poses after the long walk to find this lost historical treasure. Husband Jim snapped the photo that pleasant Monday 7 Nov 2011. Here Ruby is counting her blessings that the descendents of the 1958 stepped in and set this monument in place to preserve this almost lost burial ground for future generations. Her comment: "Edward R. Puckett and Rebecca Westmoreland Puckett are my 4th great, grandparents. It felt like a special ground to me."

Locator Maps of the cemetery 
Area photos, by Wayne Austin
Area photos, by Jim & Ruby Thomas

 
PUCKETT, Edward, 1771 - 1829, Born in Brunswick Co Va. 0004i/0004
PUCKETT, Rebecca Westmoreland, 1781 - 1849, Born in Brunswick Co Va. (Wife of Edward Puckett) 0004i/0004

There are several upright fieldstones marking graves. I saw no evidence of an inscribed memorial prior to the 1958 installation of this stone. Either the old Puckett memorials were destroyed, removed, and/or buried in place or maybe there never were any formal headstones. [C Wayne Austin Apr 2008]

Commentary by Ruby Thomas after she & husband Jim Thomas visited this site Monday 7 Nov 2011:
We had a great morning in our visit. We parked the truck at the bottom of the little rise where the road got rough and walked the rest of the way. It was wonderful walk & the place and gave me such a good feeling.
We attach some pictures of the burial grounds, the barn and what we think could be the original house site. There was a shed and what looked like a smoke house near two piles of large rocks. This site is about 60 paces from the barn. The burial grounds are 30 paces behind the barn. From where we turned off onto Smyrna Church Road to the gate of the farm is one mile.
The wall is about 2 1/2 ft high. The site is shaped like a crown. The east side is 12 paces long. Each side goes back 7 paces and then comes in toward the center 5 paces and then 5 paces across the west side.
We cleaned around the memorial stone and the what was probably three small foot stones. There is another field stone standing to the right of the large stone. Leaning on the inside wall could be some more field stones. Those piles of rocks are where we think the house site could be. The last building pictured is probably the smoke house.
[Ruby and Jim Thomas, 8 Nov 2011.]

Listed in "Maury County Tennessee Cemeteries", 19 Mar 1987, by Fred Lee Hawkins, page 455. Also in the book, "They Passed This Way", 1964, by Evelyn Shackleford & Marise Lightfoot, page D-181.
Photographed & Transcribed by Wayne Austin 17 Apr 2008. Photo & information update by the efforts of Jim & Ruby Thomas. Ruby is a 4th great grand-daughter of the Puckett couple buried here.