Annual Tour Saturday October 10, 2015 

 

Adelicia Acklen and her husband(s) tells her/his tale

As night falls,  honored guests gather at the
first stop - Confederate Circle.
 This photograph was taken from an actual tour and  gives the illusion of two moons. This is called the Double Moon.  According to folk legend,  ghosts walk the earth - the Night of the Double Moon

Have you ever spoken to a ghost? If you come to Nashville, Tennessee in the month of October you will. The General Joseph E. Johnston Camp 28 has an annual Confederate Cemetery Illuminated Walking Tour in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

The tour is to acquaint people with factual information about the American Civil War and also to raise money to maintain and restore the Confederate Circle monument and to complete, and maintain, the Confederate Memorial Hall located on the grounds of the cemetery.

Mt. Olivet Cemetery has a rich history of famous and infamous people buried within its grounds. Re-enactors, in period dress, portray spies, soldiers (from privates to generals) and southern belles of Nashville's past. Stationed at their own burial site they will tell the story of the person who is buried there, reliving the battles and other historical events that took place during their time.

The characters portrayed have ranged from John Bell, who ran for president against Abraham Lincoln, to Adelicia Acklen, who owned the Belmont Mansion.

Visitors are lead from grave to grave by men and ladies in period dress. When night falls, lanterns are lit and used to light the way among the graves. White paper bags, with a lit candle inside, point the way to the next grave and the re-enactor waiting to tell their tale.

Two soldiers tell their tale

When night falls, and the lanterns are lit, this tour guide will take on a ghostly image

This year's tour offered many interesting people from the past: Adelicia Acklen and Isaac Franklin, Major General Benjamin Franklin Cheatham, Private Timothy Lanier, Annie Maxwell Cliaborne, Mary Hadley, Dr. William J. Bass and wife Carolyn Watkins Bass, Anthony Wayne Van Leer, and Private Ezekiel O. Biggers. The tour ended with a visit to Memorial Hall.

In the past, honored guests, waiting their turn for the tour, have been treated to period music, by musicians in period dress, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy serve hot cider. It is always exciting if there is a full moon. As the moon rises, an eerie light is cast among the grave stones and the re-enactors appear more ghostly than normal. The moon was not full this year - the full moon occurred October 27, 2015.

The annual tour is conducted in the month of October, on a Saturday night, before October 31 (Halloween). This year's annual event was held the second Saturday in October, October 10, 2015 with the full moon occurring October 27. Full moon or not, this annual event has delighted people of all ages.

Mount Olivet Cemetery is located 2.84 miles from downtown Nashville
at 1101 Lebanon Road between Fessler's Lane and Spence Lane.
 

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