No Rest for the Dead at Traveler's Rest

When John Overton built his home, Traveler's Rest, in Nashville during the late 1700's, he nicknamed the place Golgotha - Hill of the Skulls - because of the many skeletal remains found when the cellar was dug. The house, which still stands and is operated as a tourist attraction (see photo at left), was built on an ancient Indian burial mound. This mound was a central feature of a village site, over 500 years old, which contained hundreds of other stone box graves. Dozens of these burials were disturbed over the years by construction of farm buildings, plowing, railroad construction, and archaeological research.

The tradition of desecrating Indian graves continues at Traveler's Rest. The remains of 14 Native Americans were dug up in November of 1995 to make way for a new interpretive center at the site, and procedures established by Tennessee state law for moving Native American remains were not followed.

When a landowner wants to move a cemetery on his or her property, they have to go through a legal process to get permission to move the burials. This is called terminating the land as a cemetery. When prehistoric Indian graves are involved, the law requires that the landowner notify the Native American members of the Governor's Archaeological Advisory Council (AAC) and the Chairman of the Tennessee Commission on Indian Affairs (TCIA) in writing at the time a petition is filed with the Chancery Court for termination. This gives Native American representatives a chance to prepare to attend the court hearing on the termination. Traveler's Rest, Inc. did not notify anyone in writing when they filed their petition. In fact, no hearing was held - the judge simply signed the order.

Alliance president Don Yahola was one of the Native American members of the AAC at the time. He was notified by the archaeologist conducting the excavations a few days before the work was to begin. An Alliance representative contacted Nancy Cavener, Executive Director of Traveler's Rest and, in light of the fact that the proper procedures were not followed, asked her to halt the excavations. After consulting her attorney, she refused to stop the work, saying Traveler's Rest had followed the correct procedures. When asked specifically if they had notified the Native American members of the AAC, she refused to answer. Her reply was that she had arranged for the reburial of the remains with the TCIA. In her attorney's opinion this fulfilled the requirement that Native American representatives be notified.

While the law does require the landowner to make arrangements with the TCIA for the reburial of remains as close as possible to the original site of interment, this is in addition to - not instead of - the requirement for written notification of the AAC's Native American members at the time the termination petition is filed.

Our request to stop the work until the proper procedures were followed was ignored, and Traveler's Rest went ahead with the removal of the remains. On November 12, 1995 Alliance members demonstrated outside the entrance to Traveler's Rest, protesting the desecration of the graves. We received many expressions of support from the public that day and in the days that followed from those who had seen the news reports on TV or read the stories in the newspaper. But the excavations continued. Over the next two weeks, with Alliance members monitoring the work, the remains of 14 individuals were removed and turned over to the state Division of Archaeology.

The motive behind most acts of grave desecration is greed. Looters dig up graves to get artifacts to sell, or developers with large sums invested in building projects move burials to make way for their construction. However, in the case of Traveler's Rest, the motivation was not profit. Traveler's Rest, Inc. desecrated this burial ground just because they wanted to. They could have built their interpretive center somewhere else on the property, but they wanted to build it on one particular spot, which they knew would contain Indian burials.

Maybe the hypocrisy of the situation escaped them - a group dedicated to preserving a part of Tennessee history destroying another part of the state's heritage. Or maybe they just didn't care. In any case, the Traveler's Rest mansion now has a nice, new museum. Side by side, they'll stand - twin monuments to the cultural genocide on which this state was founded, which continues even today.