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White Oak Flats Cemetery; Gatlinburg, Tennessee

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About a year ago, we took a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I always like to find an old cemetery when I travel to different places. A good bit of history of an area can be learned with one local cemetery walk. The following is a bit of information I found out about Gatlinburg and one of its old cemeteries. It was late in the day when I visted, so the photos and video below were taken about dusk.

A little known fact: Gatlinburg, located in Sevier County, Tennessee, was originally known as White Oak Flats.

Edgefield, South Carolina native William Ogle (1751-1803) was the first to decide to permanently settle in the Gatlinburg area. With the help of local Cherokee, he readied logs to build a cabin. He went back to South Carolina to retrieve his family, but died of malaria before he was able to bring them back to Tennessee. William's widow, Martha Jane Huskey Ogle, moved her family near relatives in Virginia. Around 1806, Martha and her brother Peter Huskey journeyed to the (now) Gatlinburg area to complete her husband's dream. They found the waiting logs and built a cabin. It still stands today in the heart of Gatlinburg.




Following the arrival of the Ogles and Huskeys, a steady stream of settlers moved into the area known as White Oak Flats. Most of these settlers were veterans of the American Revolution or War of 1812. Among them was Timothy Reagan.

The White Oak Flats Cemetery was established and many of the pioneering settlers were buried there, including Timothy Reagan. A memorial stone for Martha Jane Huskey Ogle is there, but I do not know for sure if she is buried there. Wiley Oakley, the "Roamin' Man of the Mountains," is also buried in this cemetery.

Martha's memorial stone transcription and a photo of Timothy Reagan's gravestone:

In Memory of
Martha J. Ogle
1756 - 1827
Mother of 5 Sons
& 2 Daughters


Below is a video of White Oak Flats Cemetery at dusk.


Here is a photo of a couple of Reagan crosses:


That's what I learned about White Oak Flats Cemetery!
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Anonymous said…
Hi!
My name is Jane and I'm with Dwellable.
I was looking for blog posts about Wiley Oakley to share on our site and I came across your post...If you're open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
Hope to hear from you :)
Jane
December 3, 2012 at 3:25 PM
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