Located on the corner of Rock Hill Lane and Johnson’s Chapel Road, west of Bristol, near the Reedy Creek section of Sullivan County.  The cemetery is in the yard of the church and is very well maintained.  There was one illegible fieldstone marker that bore only a few legible letters.

Photographed and transcribed 4 Jan 2005 by Betty Jane Hylton, Donna Briggs, Chester Willis and Bob Shell, part of the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee.

Map location: Blountville Quad

GPS location: 36°35.53N  082°16.51W  Elevation: 1873 ft.

USGS GNIS ID: 1326500

The following may also be buried here:

Jacob Miller, died 1826 in Washington County, VA (he had requested to be buried here, according to his will)

Henry Miller, son of Jacob, who died ca. 1825.

Henry Kelknar who died 1816 in Washington County, VA

Eve Kelknar Shaffer, daughter of Henry Kelknar, and wife of John Shaffer, Sr. She died 8 May 1830, according to the family Bible record.

Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery

The property where the church and cemetery is located originally belonged to John Shaffer, Senior.  He gave the land and built the first church, known as “SHAVERS” and also “ZION”.  In 1810 John Shaffer built a log building, which burned soon afterward and had to be rebuilt in 1811.  In 1872 another frame church was built. The last church was built in 1911.  The members of this congregation merged with Immanuel Lutheran Church in 1962 and the building was sold.  It is now Rock Hill Baptist Church.  The building has been remodeled.  (Reference: The Lutheran Church in Virginia, 1717 – 1962, p. 612)

Charles M. Bennett wrote in 1960:  “…church and Cemetery located on the headwaters of Back Creek, which is a tributary of Beaver Creek.  There is no doubt that most of the early German settlers of this community were buried here.  Nearly all the cemetery has been destroyed; there were only a few of the fieldstone markers left in place; only one grave with a legible marker was found.”