Welcome to Nashville's Oldest Outdoor Museum
"The stories of Nashville's past live here."
Frequently Asked Questions
Who's Buried in Nashville City Cemetery?
COMING UP:
OCT 24 – After Sundown: Stories from the Nashville City Cemetery:
History with an air of mystery starts after dark! Join us for lantern-led, frighteningly festive tours of the Nashville City Cemetery.
Please note that ticket times are tied to specific themes, detailed below. If you would like a particular topic or tour guide, the schedule will let you know which time to select when purchasing tickets.
Each tour is approximately one-hour long and will involve light to moderate walking on paved pathways lit by intermittent street lamps and lanterns.
2026 Schedule of Tour Times and Themes
- 6:00 pm: Nashville’s Antebellum Leaders Buried in the Cemetery (Jim Hoobler)
- 6:30 pm: Medical Maladies (Ella Marie Sullivan)
- SOLD OUT! 7:00 pm: Dark Stories of Nashville (Betsy Phillips)
- 7:30 pm: Andrew Jackson: Friends and Foes (Bryan Gilley)
- 8:00 pm: Symbols of the Dead: Cemetery Art and Customs (Kaden Otte)
- 8:30 pm: Medical Maladies (Ella Marie Sullivan)
Additional Details
Limited free parking is available in the Cemetery, as well as on Rep. John Lewis Way S between Oak and Carroll Streets. Rideshare strongly encouraged.
This event is brought to you by the all-volunteer Nashville City Cemetery Association and its mission to preserve, beautify, and promote the site.
The Nashville City Cemetery is a Metro Nashville Public Park managed in part by the Metro Nashville Historical Commission. It is handicap accessible, opens at dawn and closes at dusk, and welcomes furry friends on leashes at all times. October 24 is one of the only times in 2026 that guests are welcome in the Cemetery after dark, and pets should be left at home that evening.
Email nashcitycemassoc@gmail.com with questions, concerns, or challenges.
Click for here for Tickets! Don’t Miss it!
View a Map of our Cemetery
There are two maps available to assist in finding the gravesite you are researching.
Protect. Preserve. Restore.
The Nashville City Cemetery Association, Inc. is a membership organization that works to protect, preserve, restore and raise public awareness of the Nashville City Cemetery in collaboration with the Historical Commission of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.
The Nashville City Cemetery, located at 1001 4th Avenue South, is the oldest continuously operated public cemetery in Nashville. On March 9, 1820, the mayor and aldermen of Nashville purchased four acres of land located “on the plains, south of town, for its burying ground.” The cemetery opened on January 1, 1822. By 1850 the cemetery was the final resting place for more than 11,000 people of every race, religion and economic status.
Become a Donor
Links appear throughout this site for donations. Your donations help us to preserve this fragile historic site.
Become a Member
Membership is open to anyone interested in helping to preserve this historic outdoor museum. We hope you’ll join us!
View our recently researched categories.
We hope you will use our site to research the early residents of Nashville who are buried here. The information available on this site represents hours of research by historians, volunteers, and descendants dedicated to preserving this part of Nashville’s story. We thank them for their tireless efforts.
Since the opening in 1822, there have been 20,000 interments in the City Cemetery. Over the years, there have been removals including Civil War Federal soldiers to the National Cemetery, Gallatin Pike, C.S.A. soldiers to the Confederate Circle at Mt. Olivet, and the relocation of graves to new family lots in Mt. Olivet Cemetery after the Civil War.
Four of Nashville’s founders, James and Charlotte Robertson & John and Ann Robertson Cockrill; American Revolutionary War soldiers Lipscomb Norvell, Joel Lewis, Anthony Foster; four Confederate generals: Felix Zollicoffer, Bushrod Johnson, Richard Ewell, and Samuel Read Anderson; the man who named the American flag “Old Glory,” Captain William Driver; Union Navy Commodore Paul Shirley; a Tennessee Governor, William Carroll; 15 mayors of Nashville, and two of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, Mabel Lewis Imes and Ella Sheppard Moore.
Nashville City Cemetery opened in 1822. The cemetery marks its bicentennial year in 2022.
Becoming a Member links appear throughout this site. Membership is open to anyone interested in supporting the mission of the Nashville City Cemetery Association, with several membership levels available. We welcome all. Also, we are always interested in hearing from descendants of those buried there.
Becoming a Donor links appear throughout this site. Two primary sponsorship opportunities provide additional avenues for support, the Memorial Day Dash and special historic activities in the fall. Your donations help us to preserve this fragile historic site. You may also support us by becoming a member, attending our tours and events, and volunteering. We are always interested in hearing from descendants of those buried there.
Working to preserve the final resting place of Nashville's earliest residents.
The Nashville City Cemetery is part of the Metro Parks system and open for public visitation daily from dawn to dusk.
Bryan Gilley is the Nashville City Cemetery Site Manager and can be reached at 615-979-2534 or at Bryan.Gilley@nashville.gov