Updated: 5:35 AM PDT, April 15, 2021 To me, these were forgotten people, Kenneth Sawyer told WSMV. I thought this was my chance to make these people no longer forgotten. As long as I m living here, this cemetery will be taken care of.
A Tennessee man made an unexpected discovery when he learned that he lives next door to a cemetery dating back to the 1800s. After Kenneth Sawyer moved to Murfreesboro last year, he was planning to build a carport in his backyard, but he got a call from the city telling him he shared a backyard with a graveyard. They said, make sure you keep it five feet from the cemetery, Sawyer told WSMV. I was like, from the what!? I just embraced it as something kinda cool.
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When a Murfreesboro man planned to make some improvements to his home on Atlas Street, he had no idea the project would lead to a lot of questions and a mystery that is likely over 100 years old.
“I wanted to put a carport up. … I got a phone call from the city telling me, ‘Just make sure you keep 15 feet back from the property line and 5 feet away from the cemetery,’” recalled Ken Sawyer, who bought the home in August last year.
His jaw dropped. “I went, ‘Excuse me? From the what?”
The news sent Sawyer on a hunt for the families whose ancestors are buried there and a quest to preserve their resting place.