Among the Trees of Old Gray Cemetery with W. Jim Cortese

Note from the editor: Knoxville’s trees have been on my mind lately. The old giants age, others are lost too soon, and we have to keep planting if we want future generations to inherit a greener city.

Fortunately, Knoxville seems to be enjoying a tree renaissance. Trees were a major theme of Mayor Kincannon’s 2026 State of the City address, fittingly held on Arbor Day. Nearly 20% of Knoxville’s public trees have been planted during her administration, including almost 2,000 in the past 16 months, with a goal of reaching 40% tree canopy by 2040. Trees Knoxville is doing tremendous work, and Dogwood Arts recently earned an Orchid Award for its Bazillion Blooms program, which has planted more than 20,000 dogwoods throughout East Tennessee.

Our Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum and UT Gardens are local treasures, and neighborhoods are getting in on the action, too. Island Home Park recently became Knoxville’s fourth designated neighborhood arboretum. I even planted 15 new trees at our home this year! 

No-one knows Knoxville’s trees better than W. Jim Cortese, arborist, natural history storyteller and co-founder of the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum. His book, John Muir Climbs a Tree and Other Tree Tales, earned a national horticultural achievement award this year.

I’ve invited Jim to write about the life of our urban trees as a quarterly column series. To begin he chose the magnificent trees of Old Gray Cemetery, giving me a lovely excuse to wander among them with my camera at the height of fall color. It’s an honor to share his story. — Leslie

Close to downtown Knoxville, off Broadway, near Emory Park and Fourth and Gill neighborhood is a grand cemetery; the Old Gray Cemetery. Some would say it is part of downtown. It is my opinion that it is outside of the downtown area. Regardless, the cemetery is a marvelous thirteen acres of Knoxville’s deceased history and lovely grand park woods-like walking and picnicking areas. Getting up early when the light fog and dew is upon the ground it is completely charming! So it is at sunset and just about any season of the year. 

The cemetery was founded in 1850 about thirty-five years prior to the area now known as Fourth and Gill was laid out for developing residential homes during the 1880’s. It was dedicated in 1852 when forty lots were sold at public auction. Old Gray Cemetery is named in honor of Thomas Gray (1716-1771), the English poet who wrote “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”.

This cemeteries style is known as an important example of cemetery planning and design during the Rural Cemetery and Garden Movement. The Rural Cemetery and Garden Movement of the 19th‑century was a cultural and urban planning response to the overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and poor aesthetics of traditional urban areas and churchyards. It emerged in the 1800s as cities expanded rapidly due to the Industrial Revolution, and public health concerns—especially after epidemics like yellow fever—pushed authorities to relocate burial grounds outside city limits in the country. 

There are over nine thousand souls entombed at Old Gray. Today one can amble along the straight and winding avenues and see excellent examples of Victorian art and architectural monuments and mausoleums honoring the lives of those buried there.  

Over the one hundred fifty years of its existence, generations of families and friends have made the cemetery a destination to be visited.  They brought their families, picnic baskets, drinks and blankets laying it out near the graves of loved ones; making a day of it.  

Another important but not always remembered part of this Rural Cemetery and Garden Movement is the garden aspect. Due to the foresight and efforts of those early Knoxvillans, we today, have a true urban forest within the boundaries of Old Gray near downtown. It is the epitome of an urban forest oasis. The original creators of this cemetery site would be proud. 

As of 2018, there were four hundred and eleven trees found and tagged within the cemetery boundaries, consisting of fifty-nine species. The largest group of these trees are magnolias (mainly southern magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora): 19.7 percent. Then in order of species numbers: dogwood: 19.2 percent; crepe myrtle: 9.2 percent; maples: 6.8 percent; redbud: 5.8 percent; holly: 5.6 percent; walnut: 5.1 percent; ginko: 3.9 percent; oak: 3.4 percent; and Eastern red cedar: 3.2 percent. These ten species groups collectively make up 81.9 percent of all trees in the cemetery. There is a remainder of forty-nine species making up the rest of 18.1 percent of  tree canopy.

The 2018 survey also identified one champion tree: a Southern red oak measuring 74.2 inches in diameter at breast height, or DBH, and 233 inches around circumference. Sadly, it has since been removed. Today, some of Old Gray’s largest specimens include a red oak measuring 60.9 inches in diameter and a sycamore measuring 54.1 inches. The cemetery also contains impressive white and water oaks, black walnuts, hackberries, sugar maples, Southern magnolias, ginkgoes, sweetgums and other mature trees, many measuring 30 to 45 inches in diameter.

The massive oaks, maples, walnut, and hickory trees are part of a wide variety of trees and vegetation at Old Gray that are living witnesses to the history of Knoxville since before the Civil War at which time this area was an open pasture. Thanks to the vision of those who lived then, we can now enjoy the park setting that these trees have created.

Under the leadership of former Old Gray director Alix Dempster, now deceased, a tree planting program was instituted. One of the unique tree planting features of the cemetery are the eleven Eastern red cedars planted on a knoll in the southeast corner. These eleven trees represent the eleven apostles after Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. Judas is represented by another lone cedar tree on the northeast side of the cemetery entrance next to Tyson Street.

A few photos among the Eastern red cedars: 

Another interesting planting is a catalpa tree on the far west side of the cemetery. As one enters the cemetery you travel a short distance to the recently restored Ella Albers Memorial fountain originally created by Andrew Jackson “A.J.” Albers in 1890. This large, two-tiered fountain was meant to be a landmark in the then 40-year-old graveyard. It lasted until World War Two when it was taken for its metal to help the war effort. Circle around the fountain and continue down the main corridor until the end. Directly in front of you will be a catalpa tree. The vision was, and is, that when you enter the cemetery the eye is cast upon the Albers monument. Once to the monument and circle to the other side of it, the catalpa when it gets large will pull ones eye down the main corridor to it. Catalpa is a magnificent species of tree with very large leaves (elephant ears) and when in bloom has the most beautiful white orchid like flowers over its entirety. A very striking and endearing tree.   

A visit to the Old Gray Cemetery at any time of the year will fill you with wonderment at the vision of its creators. Bring a sack lunch or a blanket and enjoy a few hours away from the hustle and bustle of our modern day world. Enjoy the variety of monuments, the large number of big, almost bicentennial, trees. The quietness  and restfulness of the site!          

Visit Old Gray Cemetery

Located at 543 N. Broadway, the cemetery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and welcomes visitors to explore its historic grounds. Visit oldgraycemetery.org for more information, guided tours, upcoming events and ways to support its preservation. And don’t miss Ed White’s recent IOK story, Snapshots & Stories from ‘Spirits of Old Gray’, recapping the cemetery’s annual celebration of Knoxville’s dearly departed with photos by Gary Heatherly.

About W. Jim Cortese

Jim Cortese is an arborist, forestry consultant, and natural history storyteller based in Knoxville, Tennessee. A University of Tennessee graduate in Forest Resource Management, he has spent nearly five decades in arboriculture, consulting on tree appraisal and preservation and lecturing on plant health care and tree biology. Cortese is a co-founder of the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum and has helped document and preserve historic trees throughout Tennessee. His book, John Muir Climbs a Tree and Other Tree Tales, received the American Society of Horticultural Science’s 2026 Distinguished Achievement Award for Human Issues in Horticulture. Visit www.JimCortese.com to learn more.