Note: This Cemetery needs to be completely photographed. On 16 November 1807, five commissioners were appointed to locate, acquire, and divide the land for the seat of newly created Maury, County, as well as provide for the building of a courthouse, jail and other structures for public use. On 14 Nov 1809, the commissioners designated two acres of land on the Northern edge of the city plan to be used as a burying ground for the residents of Columbia. Thus, Greenwood Cemetery was born. John Brown one of the oldest citizens of Maury County, stated to the Maury Democrat in 1895, that there was only one grave in Greenwood Cemetery when he arrived in town. That unmarked grave contained the remains of an unknown man who had been killed by a horse before 1808. Is it possible that it was for this reason that the commissioners chose this particular spot for a cemetery? In his recollections, Nathan Vaught recorded that the second person to be buried here was Mrs. Radford, Vaught's foster mother, who died in 1809. Her grave is also unmarked. Greenwood was the only public cemetery in Columbia for half a century, and it was here that the remains of many of the pioneers of the city, as well as members of families who arrived in later years, are buried. Probably the most famous interments made here were those of Major Samuel Polk and wife Jane Polk, the parents of President James K. Polk. Their tombs are of the box tomb variety with inscriptions on the heavy top slabs. The writing is now badly weathered and is becoming difficult to read. A good number of similar tombs and graves with heavy, ornate headstones still stand prominently visible in the cemetery. Many of the stones, all of the wooden markers and most of the simple limestone fieldstones have vanished with the passing of almost seventy-five years without an interment in Greenwood. It is interesting to note that in the lots of several families are buried "servants" also. Somewhere near the northern edge of the cemetery stood an A.M.E. Church and a section of Greenwood was reserved for people of color. If there was a wall between the two sections it has long ago vanished. In the 1850's it became evident that Greenwood, even though it had been enlarged from its original size, could not continue to be the sole burying ground for Columbia. In that year a group of citizens chartered Rose Hill Cemetery. The remains of many persons were moved from this old lot to Rose Hill in those years, but Greenwood continued to be used occasionally until about 1910. It had already been abandoned, was allowed to grow up in bushes, the wall allowed to fall down and even part of its area had caved off into the river. From time to time some individual or organization would call a work day to clean up the old cemetery. About fifty years ago the rock wall was rebuilt and the city assumed the task of maintaining the grounds. Use of the cemetery was regulated by an Act of the City Council, passed 3 Oct 1886 which states: That Greenwood Cemetery shall forever be held by the city as a place of burial for those who have immediate or near relatives already buried there. And it shall be unlawful to bury any corpse in said cemetery without first procuring a permit from the Mayor of the city, in addition to the permit from the Health Officer already required by law; and any person or person's guilty of burying any corpse in said cemetery without first obtaining such permit shall be subject to a fine of not less than twenty-five or more than fifty dollars, and the corpse shall be subject to removal.-This law still stands today. --Many notes on the unreadable headstones will be taken from the work-"Maury County, Tennessee Cemeteries Volume 1 (1989) - FHL- 976.859 Compiled by Fred Lee Hawkins Jr. 1923- His notes state that he has compared what can be found today with what is found in the 1963 publication of "They Passed This Way". and by a listing made by Mr. Frank H. Smith, in 1906.