Credit Where It Is Due


We do not and can not operate in a vacuum.  The more involved we become with this work, the more we recognize that it is a collaborative effort, by its very nature dependent upon the cumulative knowledge of many individuals who have dedicated their energies to the preservation of Smoky Mountain history.

Long before we undertook this project, cemetery historians before us had taken up the work of documenting the cemeteries within the borders of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We have the advantage of their hard work, and their efforts do not go unnoticed by us.  We do not pretend to have discovered any of these cemeteries ourselves.  We are documentarians.  Our job is remembrance.

It is not our intention to duplicate ground that others have already covered, and we have discussed this between ourselves time and again.  We are not discovering anything that someone before us has not already done.  Nearly every cemetery we visit has already been GPS cataloged and most have already been written about.

We are continually indebted to the comments that GoSmokies members post to our reports, and consider these to be an integral and vital part of the project.  What we begin, other readers flesh out.  They correct our errors and omissions.  Many a missing link has been put in place through a reader comment.

A few individuals in particular have our deepest gratitude:

Mike Maples - Smoky Mountain historian
Mike Gourley - Smoky Mountain historian
Frank March - Smoky Mountain cemetery historian
Robert Lochbaum - Smoky Mountain cemetery historian
Brad Free - National Park Service ranger
Barb from Ohio - Sugarlands area historian
Jacqueline Lott Ashwell - Smoky Mountain cemetery historian
Don Casada - North Shore historian
Carolina Lebar - Design consultation
Dwayne Allen - GoSmokies member
Dave Ledbetter - GoSmokies member
Jim Casada - GoSmokies member
Bob Schults - GoSmokies contributor
Linda Huff - GoSmokies member
Elizabeth Myrene Stinnett-Stanley - GoSmokies member
Greg Hoover - GoSmokies member
Peter Prince - Regional cemetery historian
Christine Cole Proctor - North Shore Cemetery Association
Henry Chambers - North Shore historian
Robert McGinnis - Regional cemetery historian

We have spoken or corresponded with countless others, sometimes only briefly, who have added a piece or two to the puzzle, and thus made our work easier or more complete.

We wish also to recognize the preservations efforts of these tireless organizations:

Cades Cove Preservation Association
North Shore Cemetery Association
U.S. National Park Service

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