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 18 – entry 6
“Located between Gibson and Double Springs. No markers left.”
The remains interred at this location were moved to the Gunnings Cemetery just west of Blountville, Tennessee near Exit 66 of Interstate 81. Reference Washington County Minute Book 66, Page 41 (recorded 7 Feb 1974) – Default Judgment and Final Decree – State of Tennessee vs J. K. Hale etux (Amanda) etal.
The cemetery was named “Simmons” by unknown person(s). Exact date of establishment is unknown. Jackson Simmons was married to Sarah Jane Ratliff (sister of Eli and daughter of Silas) and their daughter, Mary Ann, was married to Melvin Perry Cox.
Simmons Cemetery
2015
GPS – +36° 25.240, -82° 34.795 (approximate)
LOCATION –
Within the right of way of Interstate 81 about midway between Link Road and Dark Hollow Road. Precise location not surveyed.
DEEDS –
Deed Book 35, Page 217 (1855) – Robert A. Keen to Eli Ratliff – 100 acres. This deed does not mention the burial ground, however, by plotting this deed and comparing said plot, along with a topographic map showing the cemetery, and the familial connection between the Ratliff and Simmons families, the burial ground location would fall within the noted metes & bounds.
Deed Book 196, Page 600 (1936) – The estate of James Davis Lady to Samuel Kirkpatrick – 105 acres. Quiet on graveyard.
Deed Book 198, Page 213 (1936) – Samuel Kirkpatrick to John Kincheloe Hale and his wife, Amanda – 105 acres. Also, quiet on graveyard.
Deed Book 445, Page 493 (1971) – J. K. and Amanda Hale to the State of Tennessee Highway Project. Condemnation of the right of way, which included the graveyard.
Subsequently, by court order, the graves were moved in 1974.
BURIALS – No graves were able to be identified by name. 25 graves were moved on Project No 90001-2103-44, I-81, 1971 to Section 6, Lot 1, Gunnings Cemetery.
Surveyed, transcribed and donated to the Washington County TNGen Web November 2015 by Donna Cox Briggs & Gordon M. Edwards, members 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.