1815- Old Beaver Ridge Cemetery

The Old Beaver Ridge Cemetery was established in 1815.

Located in the Karns community, at the northeast corner of Copper Ridge Road and Emory Road.

In the first picture, you'll see above the brick sign a weatherproof box full of papers. These were flyers with information about the history of Old Beaver Ridge Cemetery and the people who maintain it. Here is what the flyer says:

"Old Beaver Ridge Cemetery was established as a free meeting place and cemetery in 1815, making it one of the oldest historical sites in the area. There are 356 marked graves along with numerous graves marked with field stones or unmarked.

On April 15, 1815, Thomas Reed deeded 1 acre and 20 poles to David Hall and James Scott, who were deacons of Beaver Ridge Baptist Church "for purpose of free meeting house and graveyard." The Baptist Church would have preference given to them of 4th Saturday and Sunday of every month. This is [the] first interdenominational church in [the] area. The community members wanted a place to worship and a public school to teach their children. Popular [sic- should be poplar] logs were hewed from trees cut across Beaver Creek near Trotter Mill land. Oxen transported these heavy logs for the men in the community to work together for a 'raisin' [sic] the church/school. The conditions changed, causing the Baptists to move to their new Ball Camp location. Methodists remained in charge of log building [sic].

Numerous community pioneers were buried in Old Beaver Ridge Cemetery instead of on their family's land. Field stones were used as markers for 40 years. Finally, monument maker Barnett moved into [the] area and began making tombstones in 1841. Other families still used field stones since tombstones were too expensive.

Morris Callaway created a computer spreadsheet and Barbara Stevens assembled notebooks of families for your reference which they bring to decoration day. Old Beaver Ridge Cemetery Decoration Day is the first Sunday of May (between 1-5 PM) when we encourage you to decorate the graves and share information.

The Old Beaver Ridge Cemetery Association is proud of the progress made these past few years. We have worked hard to remove brush, create [the] OBRC sign and contract mowing.

In 2010, we organized the Karns History Group, which meets frequently at Karns Community Center (old Karns Library). Jim Stevens records speakers and creates DVDs of their memories, which we give for a donation of at least $10.

Old Beaver Ridge Cemetery has no perpetual fund. We solely depend on donations. All members of OBRCA are volunteers who freely donate time and money. Please consider sending a donation to Old Beaver Ridge Cemetery.

3630 Copper Ridge Road

Knoxville, TN 37931

If you have any questions or need information: 865-690-0668 (Carolyn Walden) or 865-690-0289 (Barbara Stevens) jimandbarb@earthlink.net."

Two of the people buried in Old Beaver Ridge Cemetery are Azor F. Smith and Azor F. Pyatt. Both of them, at separate times, owned the 1790s-era house now known as Lockhart Place. This home is still standing, and is located just south of the cemetery at 2516 Gray-Hendrix Road. Azor Smith (b.1827-d.1901) was Azor Pyatt's (b.1848-d.1921) uncle, and he likely sold the Lockhart Place house to Pyatt around the beginning of the 20th century. Another person buried here is Benjamin Pyatt (b.1785-d.1863), one of Azor Pyatt's ancestors.