This page has been placed in the First Nations archive.
The petition associated with this page is no longer active.
This site outside Nashville Tennessee continues to be of much concern to the Native American community. The following brief article seeks to background Native Americans and
This page has been placed in the First Nations archive.
The petition associated with this page is no longer active.
This site outside Nashville Tennessee continues to be of much concern to the Native American community. The following brief article seeks to background Native Americans and friends of the Native American community on the issue and what can be done to address it.
The existing two-and-a-half story brick structure was built in the late 1700's as a residence for Judge John Overton, a prominent lawyer and associate of Andrew Jackson. His home was built over a burial mound which was the central feature of a Mississippian village (Tennessee Archaeological Site Designation 40DV11). In fact, Judge Overton nicknamed the site Golgotha (Hill of Skulls) because of the large number of skulls found during the construction of the cellar of his home. At present, the house serves as a tourist attraction with visitor center.
This site has been the target of desecration for quite some time. The full extent of desecration will probably never be known. However, we do know that farming, railroad construction, building, and landscaping have disturbed dozens of graves. From August to November 1995,an archaeological investigation and burial removal project was conducted at this site. This was all part of a process to construct a new interpretive center at Travellers Rest. Under Tennessee law, if prehistoric Indian graves are involved, then notification, in writing, must be made to the Native American members of the Governor's Archeological Advisory Council (AAC) as well as to the Chairman of the Tennessee Commission on Indian Affairs (TCIA). Since Travellers Rest is designated a National Historic Site, the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) also became applicable. Travellers Rest expected to find eight graves. However, when the excavation was completed, there were thirteen graves opened with some fourteen individuals removed along with their associated funerary objects. At present, the remains and artifacts are still at the lab of the State of Tennessee, Department of Conversation, Division of Archaeology.
To recount what has transpired, first the Tennessee Commission on Indian Affairs was notified on October 6, 1995 of the intent of The National Society of the Colonial Dames in Tennessee and Travellers Rest Historic House Museum, Incorporated, "Travellers Rest" "to terminate a native cemetery" located on their property, They then filed a petition for the same in Chancery Court for Davidson County, Tennessee which was entered on October 9th, 1995. They cited the need for expediency due to the "likelihood of vandalism and destruction of graves" in their petition so that the order could be entered on the same day. Note, this petition was entered on October 9th, 1995, and the order was issued on October 9th, 1995. According to a notice from the State Archaeologist Nick Fielder titled "Burial Relocation Process for Prehistoric Burials at Travellers Rest Historic Site" dated September 1, 1995 " (8): Publication of notice to unknown descendants. Must run for four weeks". From the time the Commission was notified until the order was granted was only three days. What happened to the four weeks? This is significant also in that this was the same procedure that was tried at the Moss-Wright site in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. If alert members of both the native and local communities had not found out about that project I'm sure the same thing would have happened to this significant burial mound. By November, the excavation was completed and the artifacts and remains were turned over to the State Archaeologist for study and NAGPRA inventory. Members of a local native organization protested on site and monitored the excavation process. Nancy Cavener, Executive Director of Travellers Rest, expressed dissatisfaction "that some people were upset by the Indians protesting." I wonder why these "people" would not expect Native Americans to be upset over their ancestors' rest being once again disturbed. In January it was reported at the quarterly Tennessee Commissions of Indian Affairs meeting that the remains were ready for reburial. When asked about the artifacts, the reply was, 'the tribes had not responded to notification'. From then until July this became the standard answer from the state archaeologist, Mr. Fielder. In July, under the Tennessee Publics Records Act, my attorney and I met at the Tenn. Dept. of Archaeology to view all documents from this project. We were told that the tribal notification letters, as required by NAGPRA, were there, but none were produced. NAGPRA requires that prior to commencing work on any national historic site that notification be made to the NAGPRA Departmental Consulting Archaeologist and a Cultural Preservation Section 106 process started by the State Historical Commission. No evidence was found that any of these processes were done. Both the State Historical Commission and the State Archaeological Depa