(06-07-2022 09:24 PM)tigerich Wrote:  Grew up a block away from Winchester park. Used to play their in the 50's. Still had some of the old graves there, it was spooky.

There's a local Woman who has done extensive research on Winchester Burial Ground & Park.

She also stores all her images on a Flickr site.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/midge3426/...017407468/

Old Winchester Cemetery Grave-stone -- dated, 1840, embedded in huge growing tree, Memphis TN



The site of the Winchester cemetery is now a park and no markers remain. When the cemetery closed many of the burials were moved to other cemeteries like Elmwood. Not all of the burials were removed. When the city took over the property all of the remaining headstones were removed.

"Winchester Cemetery was perhaps the oldest burying ground in Memphis. Records show that it was one of the oldest in Shelby County. It was established in 1828 as the first cemetery for Memphis and was located at Third and Poplar. Prior to 1827 no public burial ground was established in Memphis. There was a small lot used for burial at third and Poplar. Marcus Winchester, the first mayor of Memphis, donated a plot of ground to the city, consisting of 11 acres on High Street (now Lane Street). This became Memphis first official cemetery. Around 1874, Memphis extended its limits and the Winchester Cemetery was no longer used. The last burial was in 1874. Most of the bodies at Winchester were removed to Elmwood Cemetery and the old burial ground was made into a park, now called Winchester Park. Some graves, including the grave of Marcus Winchester, were not moved. They remain in Winchester park - unmarked. The biggest indignity of all: Winchester's grave is now under a city garage on the west side of the property."

The historical sign at the park reads: "The Winchester New Burying Grounds was established in 1828 as the first cemetery for Memphis by Andrew Jackson, John Overton, and James Winchester, the three original land owners of Memphis. At that time, the city government was less than two years old. Prior to this there was a small cemetery at Poplar and Third. Through the 1830's, the 40's, and 50's Winchester was the principle city cemetery. The last burial there was in 1874. The cemetery occupied 10.82 acres bound by what is now Lane Ave. on the South, the old L&N; railroad on the north, Danny Thomas Blvd. on the west and Manassas Street on the east. As a result of neglect and vandalism beginning during the Yellow Fever epidemics, the cemetery went to ruins. The desecration resulted in protests by citizens and lawsuits by relatives. In 1931 a park was established on the remaining 7 acres that you now see. Among those buried there were the victims of the Helen McGregor Steamboat disaster, William Lawrence, the first city surveyor, Henry Van Pelt, the first editor of the Appeal, and Marcus Winchester, our first mayor who in 1819 set up the first store in Memphis and in 1821 the first post office, Winchester's grave is located under what is now the city garage on the west side of this property."

In 1849, the city limits were expanded and Winchester Cemetery became officially located inside Memphis. As time went by and Memphis was hit by the Civil War and later yellow fever epidemics, the old cemetery began to fall into disrepair and fast became a haven for hoodlums and a grazing place for horses. Many of the graves were sunken, and broken tombstones lay scattered over the ground The last burial in Winchester Cemetery was said to have been in 1874. During the term of Mayor John Johnson (1870-73), High Street was cut through the cemetery. Finally, the Old Folks Society -- in a deed dated 15 April 1880 -- purchased the remainder of the cemetery from the heirs of W. R. Smith with the idea of caring for and protecting the burying grounds. In 1881 the organization launched a move to resurrect the historic burial ground, seeking public donations. When the drive fell short of its goal, members of the Society assessed themselves $6 a year to have the cemetery cleaned up and replanted with shrubbery, and to hire a superintendent who would maintain the place and be on hand to point out graves and points of interest to inquiring visitors.

Two years after the program was initiated, a reporter from the Weekly Public Ledger took a stroll through the cemetery to see the improvements. Guiding him on the tour was the superintendent, W. S. Rogers, described as "the guardian ghost" of Winchester Cemetery. According to the story which ran in the 8 May 1883 edition under the heading "Among the Tombs," Rogers told the reporter: "This graveyard, sir, has been snatched from the tombs. Two years ago it used to he dreaded on a double account -- the ghosts and the hoodlums. The ghosts were innocent, but I pledge you my word I had to get a shotgun in the daytime and a sheet at night to keep the hoodlums from playing cards on that fiat tombstone yonder. " Rogers said he got only $49.15 for his services the first year, but that his heart was in his work and the Old Folks had promised to bend the rules and let him be buried there when his time came.