HUFSTEDLER CEMETERY
(Pinkney's Tomb)The main feature of Hufstedler Cemetery is a very large grave house, called Pinkney's tomb, which stands on a bluff overlooking the Buffalo River. This started as a walled cemetery but later was roofed. The cut limestone wall is 26 feet 3 inches square and almost 5 feet high. Massive support beams were laid atop the east and west walls and a roof was built over the entire area. There is a door in the north gable. Steep steps climb up the wall and down into the grave house. In 2004 some of the east wall had fallen and the northeast corner which supports one of the massive beams had cracked away from the north wall and was beginning to lean outward.
Hufstedler Cemetery is near Hurricane Creek and is reached driving south and west on Whitwell Cemetery Road. A gravel driveway with a sign indicating Pinkney's Tomb joins at an acute angle on the south. The drive climbs steeply to the top of the bluff.
David Donahue recorded Hufstedler Cemetery September 2004. Mary (Stewart) Bowen and Melissa (Snyder) Bowen recorded the cemetery in the early 1990s. Their record appears in Mary Bowen's Perry County, Tennessee Cemetery Records (Vol. I). They provide more information about the history of the cemetery than is given above. This earlier record is referred to as Bowen in the notes below.
In the Grave House
Whitwell, Josephine, Nov. 11, 1861-July 15, 1901, "Daughter of of P. & L. J. Hufstedler" (concrete marker)
Bowen reports that the following people are reported to buried inside:
Hufstedler, Pinkney, July 1, 1814-Ma. 3, 1895
Hufstedler, Louisa Jane Randel, wife of P., Aug. 30, 1831-Jan. 26, 1923
Randel, Nathaniel Moses, Jan. 1, 1809-Nov 2, 1887
Randel, Malinda Mahalia Markham, wife of N. M., May 12, 1813-Oct. 6, 1889 (parents of Louisa Jane)
Outside the Grave House
Armstrong, Pauline, May 30, 1914-July 14, 1915, "Daughter of J. N. & B.? M.? Armstrong" (broken) [Bowen read JM & MM Armstrong]
Penahouse, Margaret J., June 6, 1873-Jan. 20, 1932, "A tender mother and a faithful friend" (disintegrating concrete marker); also temporary marker, Margaret Jane Pevahouse [marker has "Penahouse"; this is not a typo]
Pevahouse, Lula May, no dates, " Infant dau. of Elisa & Margaret" [not found in 2004; reported by Bowen; this may be what in 2004 were remnants of a broken marker 4 feet north of the marker for Margaret J. Penahouse]
Return to Perry County, Tennessee Cemetery Records