Williamson Cemetery
The Williamson Cemetery at Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located ten minutes from the start of Snake Den Ridge Trail, which begins at the back of the B-Loop in the Cosby Campground. See the Cosby Region web page for an interactive location map.
The Williamson cemetery is quite small, with most of the graves belonging to members of the Williamson and Campbell families, though other families are represented as well. A few of the original granite tombstones still have readable inscriptions, but many were “budget” memorials made of river stone and the inscriptions have long since faded away. They now only anonymously mark a grave of a former Cosby resident. Some living family members had the foresight to replace the rapidly deteriorating stones with a granite memorial, and these were placed at the base of the old stone, preserving the identify of the person six feet below.
Joseph Campbell grave (12/3/1816 to 5/23/1894)
A newer memorial stone sits at the base of the original tombstone
The most interesting of the graves is that of Ella Costner, who, according to the tombstone, was a POW in World War II and a Poet Laureate of the Smokies. She died and was buried in 1982, long after the park was created.
Ella Costner grave (2/18/1894 to 7/11/1982)
Keep in mind that many of the cemetery names evolved since Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established and may not be the names used by the original families, if they used a name at all. Even today you may find a cemetery referenced by multiple names.
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Last updated on March 17, 2020
