Cemetery Adventures, Take 1

My parents are probably laughing if they read this.  When I was little, I absolutely hated going to cemeteries and looking for graves of ancestors.  I mean the whining, crying, complaining, "let's go home!" kind of hate.

Sunday, Nic and I took off the Cheatham County, TN (about 45 minutes from home) to find an old cemetery where one of his distant relatives is buried.

This adventure started back on Christmas Eve, when Grandma and Grandpa Teasley uncovered these things in their home:

A photo of some Teasley ancestors.

A genealogy book put together by one of Nic's distant relatives.

This book told us that Nic's ancestors came from Virginia to Dalton, GA (carpet capital of the world) where they had a cotton plantation.  Somewhere along the way, Nic found out that others lived right here in middle Tennessee, so we went on a cemetery hunt.

This place was in the boonies.  Not just out in the country, or down an old country road. We're talking real, live, legit boonies -- where you've gotta be careful to not hit the cattle grazing on the side of the road!  The roads are "paved..." if you get my drift.  Boonies.  Soon after I lost 3G coverage on my iphone, we stumbled upon the small road where said cemetery was located.

Of course, we met a car along this one-lane dead-end road. We wiggled our way around to get two cars on the road and asked about the Teasley Cemetery.  The nice lady we passed informed us that we were on her property and that we'd need take a different road to get to the cemetery.  She told us who owned the cemetery land, where that lady lived, her maiden name (Teasley, sure enough!), what she did for a living, etc. etc. etc.  Side Note: It's really true that everyone knows each other in small towns like this... it was to the point of SCARY!

This kind lady (yes, we're friends now!) was on her way to town when we passed her, and she offered to show us where we'd find the cemetery. Of course her directions included things like "a road grown over" and "a huge log pushed to the side of the road" but we found that huge log and the road grown over. Too bad Teasley Cemetery sat at the top of a steep hill... and I was hearing heels from Sunday church! We went to town to find me some shoes, but had no luck.  I'm so thankful my sweet husband didn't make me hike the mountain in heels.

Ok, so maybe, just maybe I was a little scared off by the neighbors... you know, the ones who have chickens running wild, dogs chasing our car, confederate flags flying everywhere, and giant spray-painted signs reading "Mind Your Own Business!"

Needless to say, we didn't make it to Teasley Cemetery on this trip.  But don't worry, we'll be back!