Nancy De Gennaro, Daily News Journal, Sunday, April 19, 2015
Boy Scout Troop 374 of Smyrna helped with some of the cleanup at Templeton Grove Cemetery.
SMYRNA – When Frances Victory was searching through a historical book at Smyrna First Baptist Church, she ran across an almost-forgotten early settler of Rutherford County, John Nash Read.
“So I got on the Internet and started doing a lot of research,” Victory said. “He was a Revolutionary War soldier and from a family of early aristocracy … and moved to Rutherford County in 1806 and brought his family with him.”
She also stumbled upon the long-lost Templeton Grove Cemetery where Read is buried. And at 1:30 p.m. Saturday — Read’s birthday — the Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution will hold a grave-marking ceremony at the cemetery.
“They mark graves of Revolutionary War patriots,” Victory said.
Templeton Grove Cemetery is located off Florence Road in Smyrna.
Spearheaded by Victory, the restoration project is the culmination of efforts between individuals, local and federal government agencies and historical preservationists.
“After I discovered everything about (Read) I could, I went up to the Rutherford County Archives and to the Register of Deeds and found a multitude of documents around Rutherford County about this gentleman,” said Victory, who put together a small book that outlines Read’s life.
Like many Revolutionary War soldiers, Read received a land grant of hundreds of acres. His property was in Virginia, but he eventually made his way to what is now Rutherford County. Initially, he purchased around 600 acres and founded Templeton Grove Plantation. Today, Nissan Manufacturing sits on part of that land and the Corps of Engineers owns much of the other section of the land.
“He also built a church called Enon Springs,” Victory explained.
And like most families with plantations, there was a family cemetery. So Victory went in search of the location.
“(Historians) Greg Tucker and Ernie Johns helped me discovery the cemetery. No one even hardly knew it was there,” Victory said.
“I drive by there every day on the way to work. … You couldn’t even see it from the road,” said John Lodl, director of the Rutherford County Archives.
But when Victory actually did find the location of Templeton Grove Cemetery, it was far from the reverent family cemetery it once was. Today it is located right off Florence Road, about a half-mile beyond where Florence intersects Enon Springs Road.
The cemetery is now located on property managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Victory wasn’t deterred in her determination for restoring the site, so she contacted the federal agency and she garnered permission to restore it.
Once the permission was granted, Victory went to work getting support for the project.
“County Commissioner Robert Stevens, Toby Francis, Dr. Stacey Graham from MTSU and Anne Odom … all worked together. … We got a lot of political support,” she said.
Smyrna mayoral candidate Jeff Hollingshead gave the majority of the funding needed for the restoration project. The total sum of the restoration was around $8,000. Robert Francis did surveying and restored the tombstones, as many of them were broken or underground. Community volunteers did a lot of cleanup by clearing away vegetation and a wrought iron fence was constructed around the cemetery.
Capt. Nathaniel Allen, who was killed at the Battle of Stones River, is also buried there but his grave didn’t have a stone. So Artisan Granite and Marble donated a monument for him.
The DAR and SAR committee members included Blanche Pearson, Roseanne Peppers, Anne Odom and Glenn Taylor.
The town of Smyrna also got involved in the project because plans were already in the works to widen Florence Road and the cemetery was in the way.
“They had to reroute the road … and the town of Smyrna has plans to build a pull-off so people can visit. Before there was no place to pull off,” she said. For the grave marking, a field next to the cemetery location will be mowed and open for visitors to park. A tent will be up, too, in case of inclement weather.
Along with coordinating the restoration project, Victory went in search of descendants of Read, who had 24 children and three wives. The first she found was Nathaniel Barksdale Read from Pasadena, California. Turns out he had a silver mug and two spoons with the initials “NBR.”
Several are also coming to the grave marking and include Texans Dr. Don Reed and his family, Rayna Sloane from New Jersey, Lynne Clayton, and Nat Read is bringing his wife, Linda.
The collaborative efforts of the Templeton Grove Cemetery project reach beyond a restoration project, Lodl said.
“We are ecstatic Frances Victory took the initiative as citizens to help with that effort — in cooperation with the Corps of Engineers, the city of Smyrna, Rutherford County and (archaeologist) Dan Allen — to preserve it,” Lodl said. “For us, Templeton Grove serves as a wonderful model of citizens working for government (for a preservation project).”
If you go
What: Templeton Grove Cemetery grave-marking ceremony
When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Templeton Grove Cemetery, located on Florence Road (about a half-mile from the intersection of Enon Springs Road), Smyrna
Contact: 615-890-1193