Little Greenbrier School House and cemetery in the Elkmont region of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Little Greenbrier Cemetery is located at the end of a one-lane dirt road, and though it is rough at the start, any vehicle can travel on it when driven slowly. See the Elkmont Region web page for an interactive location map.
Little Greenbrier Cemetery is located next to—literally—the Little Greenbrier School. Why is there a cemetery where one would expect a playground? Well, the school also served as the community’s church, a common practice in rural areas because building these log structures took a lot of time and effort. Why build two when one can serve two purposes? Besides, nobody goes to school on Sunday.
The cemetery is about as ugly a cemetery as you will find in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It is situated on an eroded hill with very little grass or other vegetation on the ground and thus looks more like a desert.
Eroded hill of Little Greenbrier Cemetery in the Elkmont region of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A few of the original granite tombstones still have readable inscriptions, but many were cheap memorials made of river stone, and the inscriptions have long since faded away. They now only anonymously mark a grave of a former Little Greenbrier resident. Some living family members had the foresight to replace the rapidly deteriorating stones with granite tombstones, and these have been placed at the base of the old stone, preserving the identify of the person six feet below.
Grave of Peggy Stinnett Hicks (1884-1924) in the Little Greenbrier Cemetery, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Grave of Roy Thomas Walker (1/19/1919 to 7/31/1919) in the Little Greenbrier Cemetery, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Infant grave in the Little Greenbrier Cemetery, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Grave of Edith Walker (9/10/20 to 7/4/1925) in the Little Greenbrier Cemetery, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Grave of Nancy Stinnett in the Little Greenbrier Cemetery, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Keep in mind that many of the cemetery names were coined after Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established, so the current name may not be the original. Many cemeteries in the park are referenced by multiple names.
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Last updated on February 16, 2025
