WSMV Channel 4 Future of historic Nashville cemetery in jeopardy

Future of historic Nashville cemetery in jeopardy

An important piece of little-known Nashville history is in jeopardy. The graveyard where two of the city's greatest heroes are buried is for sale, and local historians say it is time to step in and save the property forever.

Buchanan Station Cemetery is small and abandoned, sandwiched between industry off of Elm Hill Pike in Donelson. A tiny sign marker is the only hint that anything nearby is even worth noticing.

But, it was right there the last army of Native Americans decided to burn Nashville to the ground in 1792.

"The plan was to take Buchanan Station, which was the closest station to them as they were coming into Nashville, and then go to Fort Nashborough and others, and just get them all, and wipe Nashville right off the map," said Mike Slate, with the Nashville Historical Newsletter. "And they were stopped right here."

Twenty settlers held off 500 attackers, and Nashville was saved.

At the heart of the fight, Major John Buchanan and his wife Sarah Ridley.

This was the last major fight between settlers and Native Americans in Middle Tennessee, and the real hero of the battle was Sarah, who took them water and supplies.

But not only that, when they ran out of bullets, she melted down all the spoons, knives and forks, and made 300 more bullets. She passed them around to the men, saying "we're not done fighting."

And she was nine months pregnant.

"She was the one throughout the whole battle who was the steady voice of victory," Slate said. "One account calls Sally Ridley the greatest heroine of the West. And she is buried right there."

But now this little cemetery, protected by the grace of its owner, is for sale. The landowner says he will donate it to the city, but will the city take it? Does the city value what happened there?

"We want to develop it, interrogate it, promote it, and make it the sort of historic icon it could be," Slate said.

A small interpretive center and a trailhead for the proposed Mill Creek Greenway are two ideas being considered by the Metro Historical Commission right now.

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