Great Smoky Mountains, TN – The Greenbrier region of the Great Smoky Mountains is a lesser traveled area and mostly frequented by locals enjoying the tubing it offers along the Little Pigeon River that runs through it.
Roadways are still mostly one way in and gravel dirt. The area presents many fascinating trails, hidden cemeteries, boulder that are prehistoric in size, a homestead and the peaceful areas have deer and even further into the woods, black bears.
It is also home to the Big Greenbrier Cemetery, also known as Plemons Cemetery. Big, because it is the largest of the over 150 cemeteries located in the Smokies, with 700 graves scattered throughout the massive acreage of land.
The grave markers are aged from time and weather, with many unreadable. A lonely stone marker is all that is left on a few, others have newer modern tombstones that have been added in recent years by still living relatives. One of the most interesting things about Plemons Cemetery, well actually, there are three, is the fact that numerous headstones are handmade and etched. You will find misspelled words, missing info, and sometimes the letters were started so large on the line that room ran out at the end to finish the words and they are split and continued onto the next one.
The second most notable feature of the cemetery are many of the graves have the flowers arranged in a straight line proceeding down the length of where the body lays. The last and most unusual thing about this graveyard is the old mountain woman who was buried in her rocking chair because rigor mortis had set in.
The story goes neighbors walked by her cabin one day where she always was seen sitting on the porch reading her bible and they would always wave at her and she would return with a wave to them. On this particular day, she didn’t respond back to them which seemed odd. When they returned back by, she hadn’t moved an inch, so out of curiosity they approached the porch, only to find that the old woman was dead in her rocking chair. Out of panic, the group moved her inside the cabin, but rigor mortis had set in and she could not be moved from the rocking chair. Not knowing what else they could do, when it came time to be buried, she was left in her chair still with her bible in hand and that’s how she was left for eternity.
Graveyard Ghosts ventures into the Cemetery to show many examples of the unique tombstones it holds and also hear the tale of the rocking chair mountain woman.
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