Riffey Cemetery
TVA Cemetery #5 – Boone Lake Project – Washington County, TN
Washington County, Tennessee Tombstone Inscriptions by Charles M. Bennett and the Watauga Association of Genealogists. Information used with the permission of Lorraine Bennett Rae.
From volume 3, page 91 – entry 78
“Flooded by Boone Lake. TVA records indicate one grave; no information available about this burial. It was left.”
Ora Hall Riffey was the daughter of Ebenezer B. Hall, who was the son of James Nathaniel Hall. See attached aerial photograph to view the property owned by Ora Hall Riffey. This parcel was immediately to the east of the Tom Martin Hall parcel and the James Hall Cemetery. Several Riffeys are buried at Hales Chapel, including Ora and her husband L. Martin Riffey. Their son, Garnet (Grant, per death cert) Iver Riffey was noted as moved from the James Hall Cemetery to Hales Chapel in the TVA records. Garnet/Grant died in 1911 and his grave is marked with a marble marker.
A review of TVA material available to the public revealed that a plot with one grave was found on the Riffey property. Records show that the name of the interred is unknown, no marker or rock was found, and the remains were not moved. This would seem to indicate that the person was not immediate family and/or had been there for many years. A TVA map revealed the location as shown in the attached photo and shown by the red #5. No further information has been found.
GPS Location: +36° 26.050, -82° 24.385
LOCATION – Barely under water at elevation 1385’ and at the property line separating 130 and 132 Meredith Circle.
DEEDS – Deed Book 258, Page 587 (1951) – Ora Hall Riffey to United States for flowage easement. Deed Book 270, Page 485 (1953) – Ora Hall Riffey to J. A. & Elsie Meredith – sale of the subject property. These deeds were reviewed and used to define the location of the property. No mention of a burial ground is found in either deed.
Surveyed, transcribed and donated to the Washington County TNGen Web June 2015 by Gordon M. Edwards, member of the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee.
Copyrighted 2015 by the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee. No part of this work may be copied without written permission from the Cemetery Survey Team.