Sacred Ground: Campground Cemetery
On a narrow ridge above the main road through the Coal Hill community in southern Scott County is the Campground Cemetery.
This old, no-longer-active cemetery is a throwback to the early days of the Campground community — to a time when this now-remote area was part of the breadbasket of civilization on the south end of Scott County.
There are only about 70 graves at Campground Cemetery, and not all of them can be identified. But the ones that can help tell the story of the families that were once prominent here, like the Lewallens and the Youngs.
You might recall from the story of the Lewallen Cemetery on the banks of Black Wolf Creek that the Lewallens of Coal Hill and Campground traced their roots back to Anderson Grant Lewallen, a Virginian who migrated to the Cumberland Plateau in the early 19th century. His youngest son, John Lewallen, was Scott County’s first sheriff.
It is there, with the Lewallens, that the story of Campground Cemetery begins.
The Young family
Andrew Leutian Lewallen was the oldest son of Anderson and Lucy Lewallen. He fought with Gen. Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812 before returning to Tennessee and settling on a land grant that he received along the Scott-Morgan county line.
Andrew Lewallen — who was also called Shadrack, or Shade; not to be confused with the Shade Lewallen of Huntsville who cast Scott County’s only vote for Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election — was a Methodist minister who had at least six children, including three sons and three daughters. All three of his daughters married into the Young family from Coal Hill.
The oldest of those daughters, Elizabeth, married Matthew Young and is purported to be the first person buried at Campground Cemetery in 1845. However, that is unlikely.
Recall that the Sacred Ground’s profile of the Lewallen Cemetery a few miles away includes a section on the Young family. In his 1994 book, Cemeteries of Scott County, Tennessee, historian Robert Bailey wrote that Elizabeth Lewallen Young is buried at the Lewallen Cemetery. He cited information from Kathleen Fulwiler, who was a great-granddaughter of Sheriff John Lewallen. She died in 2012.
There is no identifiable stone for Elizabeth Young at the Lewallen Cemetery. There is a flat stone at Campground Cemetery bearing the name Elizabeth Young. However, the dates listed on that stone are 1849 – 1915. This is a different Elizabeth Young.
In any event, Matthew and Elizabeth were married in 1838 and had three daughters: Malinda, Mary and Nancy. When Elizabeth died in 1845, Matthew remarried to her her younger sister, Rhoda Ann Lewallen (1828 – 1915) and they had at least 10 more children.
Matthew Young was the son of John Andrew Young Sr. (1779-1826) and Mary Polly Smith (1782-1820). He was active in the Methodist church and served in Co. H of the 7th Tennessee Infantry during the Civil War. Two of his brothers — Solomon Young (1820-1903) and William Young (1814-1909) — also served in the Civil War.
Solomon Young married the third daughter of Andrew Lewallen, Nancy (1822-1917).
While the burial location of Elizabeth Young remains somewhat in doubt, Matthew and Rhoda Lewallen Young, and Solomon and Nancy Lewallen Young, are all buried at Campground Cemetery.
So if the Elizabeth Young buried at Lewallen Cemetery, born in 1849 and died in 1915, isn’t Elizabeth Lewallen Young, the daughter of Andrew Lewallen and the first wife of Matthew Young, who is she? She is the daughter of Matthew Young and his second wife, Rhoda Ann Lewallen. She was born in 1849 and was listed in the 1850 census.
And, so, if the Campground Cemetery doesn’t date to 1845, when did it start? It appears that the first burial there was another Elizabeth Young, a young girl who died on Jan. 1, 1893.
This particular Elizabeth Young, who was just seven years old when she died, was a granddaughter of Matthew Young. Her parents were William Harrison Young (1863-1960) and Nancy Young (1864-1907). Her mother was also buried at Campground Cemetery.
Just three months after the death of little Elizabeth, Matthew Young died at the age of 77 and was the second person buried at the cemetery.
A number of other members of the Young family were buried at Campground Cemetery through the years. In fact, there are more Youngs buried there than anyone else making up nearly half the graves in the cemetery.
Two of the many Youngs buried at Campground Cemetery are sisters Martha “Patsy” Peak (1863-1923) and Arlinie Peak Young (1851-1921). They were the granddaughters of Revolutionary War veterans Able Peak and Joseph Griffith (the daughters of Lewis Peak and Matilda Griffith). Arline married Layton Webster Young (1859-1932), the son of Matthew Young. Patsy married Layton’s cousin, John Brigham Young (1860-1930), the son of Solomon Young. The sisters had a brother, Leonard C. Peak, who married Vetha Frances Young, a daughter of Matthew Young and brother of Layton Young.
The last Young to be buried at Campground Cemetery was Willard Young on May 30, 1969. He was a grandson of Matthew Young.
The Griffith family
In 1893, the same year that Campground Cemetery was started, baby Mary Griffith died and was buried there. She was about one month old at the time of her death. She was the daughter of Sam and Tempa Griffith. Both of her parents were also buried at Campground Cemetery.
Following the death of Tempa Griffith in 1901, Sam Griffith remarried to Lydia Lewallen.
In 1921, the 13-year-old son of Sam and Lydia Lewallen Griffith, Oral Griffith, died and was buried at the cemetery. He had a brother, Daniel, who was buried there in 1976, and a sister, Nyanne Booth, buried there in 1987.
The Hutson family
Fifteen-year-old Bertie Hutson died in 1918 amid the Spanish Flu pandemic and was buried at Campground Cemetery. She was the daughter of Joe Hutson and Elizabeth Lawson.
Joe and Elizabeth Hutson also had a granddaughter — Anna Hutson — who was buried at the cemetery when she died as a baby in 1921. She was the daughter of Samuel Robert Hutson and Etha Young. Both of her parents were buried at the cemetery, as well.
Another baby, John Hutson, was buried at the cemetery in 1933.
The Henry family
Twenty-eight-year-old Pauline Todd Henry died of pneumonia in 1929 and was buried at Campground Cemetery. She was the wife of Hurstle Hugo Henry (1899-1975). Following her death, he remarried to Georgia Young.
Hurstle Henry was the son of Samuel C. Henry (1879-1951) and Etta Lowe (1878-1969), both of whom are buried at Campground Cemetery.
Hurstle and Georgia Young Henry had two infant daughters buried at Campground: Brenda Kay in 1954 and Sharon Faye in 1958.
Cemetery census
CAMPGROUND CEMETERY
GPS Coordinates: 36.29110, -84.58530
First Burial: 1893
Last Burial: 1996
Arphie Henry Armes, 1920-1952
Baby, N/A – N/A
Nyanne Griffith Booth, 1915-1987
Elbie Young Byrd, 1903-1927
May Hill Conatser, 1906-1927
Francis M. Creekmore, 1882-1940
Salina Young Davis, N/A-N/A
Children Duncan, N/A-N/A
Daniel C. Griffith, 1906-1976
Mary L. Griffith, 1893-1893
Oral Griffith, 1908-1921
Samuel S. Griffith, 1859-1939
Tempa Griffith, 1872-1901
Vilanie Young Hall, 1884-1925
Etta Newport Hawn, 1887-1919
Simon Hawn, 1878-1943
Brenda K. Henry, 1954-1954
Etta Lowe Henry, 1878-1969
Pauline Todd Henry, 1900-1929
Samuel C. Henry, 1879-1951
Sharon F. Henry, 1958-1958
Anna O. Hutson, 1920-1921
Bertie Hutson, 1902-1918
Etha Young Hutson, 1901-1996
John L. Hutson, 1932-1933
Samuel R. Hutson, 1897-1972
Maynard Kearney, 1943-1943
Elsie Y. Kingston, 1853-1935
Clarence Kingston, 1892-1954
Louisa Young Baker, 1851-1913
Elizabeth Young Pemberton, 1849-1915
Calvin Robbins, 1856-1927
Manous Shannon, 1932-1933
Infant Silcox, N/A-N/A
Mary Young Stephenson, 1865-1939
Hattie, N/A-N/A
Yancey, N/A-N/A
Roxanne Yancey, 1939-1939
Alvin H. Young, 1880-1905
Andrew F. Young, 1838-N/A
Arlinie Peak Young, 1851-1921
Benjamin F. Young, 1890-1905
Elizabeth Young, 1885-1893
Elizabeth Young, 1849-1915
Elsie Y. Young, N/A-N/A
George E. Young, 1900-1905
George W. Young, 1853-1935
Hattie W. Young, N/A-N/A
Henry L. Young, 1875-1954
John B. Young, 1860-1930
Layton W. Young, 1859-1932
Lucinda Griffith Young, 1879-1955
Lyon Young, N/A-N/A
Martha Peak Young, 1863-1923
Mary Smith Young, 1857-1920
Mary E. Young, 1892-1952
Matthew Young, 1815-1893
Minnie Brown Young, 1870-1912
Myrtle Hamby Young, 1902-1969
Nancy M. Young, 1864-1907
Nancy Lewallen Young, 1822-1917
Ozias Young, 1878-1903
Rhoda Lewallen Young, 1828-1915
Sarah K. Young, N/A-N/A
Solomon Young, 1820-1903
Thomas Young, 1895-1896
Tina Smith Young, N/A-1902
Wesley Young, 1899-1966
Willard Young, 1901-1969
William Young, 1886-1929
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.