Hear the Tombstone Stories Behind the Union Army's Occupation of Nashville as Nashville City Cemetery Conducts Its Annual Living History Tour Saturday, Oct. 6
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, Oct. 6, the Living History Tour of Nashville City Cemetery will focus on the people whose lives were disrupted by the Union army's occupation of the city from 1862 to 1865. The tours, which last approximately one hour, will commence at 1 p.m. The last tour is at 5:00 p.m.
Nashville City Cemetery is located at Fourth Avenue South and Oak Street in downtown Nashville.
Life turned upside down for everyone when the Federal occupation was imposed in February 1862. It led to the closing of stores and shortages of food and fuel, a chain of deprivations that were felt by both rich and poor. The increasing number of wounded and sick soldiers as the war escalated required the Union army to take over homes and commercial buildings for use as hospitals.
Among the Nashville residents buried in the cemetery and portrayed on the tour by actors are prominent citizens whose homes were commandeered, school girls who became Confederate spies, slaves who lived and worked in the city and a Confederate and a Union soldier who were hospitalized and died in Nashville.
Tickets are $5 for individuals and $10 for families and can be purchased at the entrance gate. Parking is available at the Nashville Sounds Stadium. Buses will provide round-trip transportation. The tour will last approximately one hour. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended.
Proceeds go to the Nashville City Cemetery Association for the continuing restoration and documentation of the cemetery. For more information, call the Metropolitan Historical Commission at 862-7970 or go to www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org.
Opened in 1822, the City Cemetery is the oldest continuously operated public cemetery in Nashville. A walk through the grounds is truly a walk through Nashville's history.
The Nashville City Cemetery is under the supervision of the Metropolitan Historical Commission and Metro Parks and Recreation. The site is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Nashville City Cemetery Association is a membership organization that works to protect, preserve, restore and raise public awareness of the City Cemetery in collaboration with the Historical Commission and Board of Parks and Recreation of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.
SOURCE The Nashville City Cemetery Association
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