Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville)

Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville)

Mount Olivet Cemetery is a 250-acre (100 ha) cemetery located in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mount Olivet has been continuously operated since its establishment in 1856. It serves as the final resting place for many of Middle Tennessee's political and business leaders, including several former governors of Tennessee, U.S. Senators, and U.S. Congressional Representatives.

After the American Civil War, women of Nashville formed an association to raise funds to purchase a separate plot of land at the cemetery for the interment of Confederate dead. It became known as "Confederate Circle". It was used for the interment of Confederate soldiers who had died on nearby battlegrounds and as a memorial to their sacrifice. Women organized such memorial associations and raised money for interment of Confederate soldiers in major cities across the South and areas where there were concentrations of bodies. The memorial association arranged for burials of about 1,500 soldiers at Confederate Circle. Confederate veterans were also eligible for interment there.

For many years, interments at Mount Olivet were limited to white Protestants. Although this policy was officially eliminated decades ago, tradition has continued the practice, somewhat by self-selection. In the 1990s, a funeral home was added to the grounds of Mount Olivet.

Immediately adjacent to the west, Calvary Cemetery has long served as the preferred burying place of Middle Tennessee Catholics. The two facilities are separated only by grass; one can walk from one cemetery to the other, although each has a separate entrance. Cars cannot pass between the two.

Approximately one mile (1.6 km) to the south is Greenwood Cemetery, where many of the most prominent African-American residents of Middle Tennessee have been buried.

Mount Olivet Cemetery is located at 1101 Lebanon Road, approximately two miles (three km) east of downtown Nashville. It is open to the public during daylight hours.