Polk Cemetery - 1845
The land was acquired by James K. Polk, Jr., and others on October 23, 1845 as a family cemetery for the descendents of Ezekiel Polk. Colonel Polk, the patriarch of the Polk family in Tennessee, was the grandfather of President James Knox Polk. The elder Polk was instrumental in framing the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and served in the Revolutionary War. He lived in Maury County before settling in Hardeman County.
"Old E.P." wrote his own quite unique rhyming epitaph when he was 74 (3 years before his death in 1824). During his grandson’s bid for president of the United States, the derogatory religious references were removed. Later they were restored.
EPITAPH - Colonel Ezekiel Polk,
grandfather of James K Polk,
President of the United States of America
Here lies the dust of old E.P.,
One instance of mortality.
Pennsylvania born, Carolina bred,
In Tennessee died upon his bed.
His youthful days were spent in pleasure,
His later days in gathering treasure.
From superstition lived quite free,
And practiced strict morality.
To holy cheats was never willing
To give one solitary shilling.
He can forsee--and forseeing
He equals most men in being--
That Church and State will join their power,
And misery on their country shower;
The Methodist, with their camp-brawlings,
Will be the cause of this downfalling;
An error not destined to see,
He waits for poor posterity.
First fruits and tenths are odious things,
And so are bishops, tithes and kings.
Descendants of the original families are still being interred here.
Old E.P.'s Epitaph on his vault
Monument to infant Edward McNeal Polk